Vorshlag BRZ/FRS Project Development Thread

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Project update for May 25th, 2022: Yikes, been two years since I updated this 86 chassis forum build thread! It has almost been that long since we have touched Amy's 2013 FR-S LS swap chassis, too. While that is a little embarrassing, it has been very hectic in the shop - wrapping up some long term customer cars, some other shop-owned cars have been built in that period, we even purchased an "interim" 2006 Corvette for Amy to drive - and prepped and tracked that heavily. And then there was that whole global pandemic, followed by a massive spike in parts orders, and a huge expansion of our CNC capabilities.



Basically we've been buried and have neglected Amy's car - but it is about to finally leave the lobby here at Vorshlag HQ (below left) and head back into the shop for completion! The sleeved aluminum 454" LS7 shortblock was completed and we're narrowing down the cylinder head options to some new designs HorsePower Research is building now. Then that major piece of the puzzle can go in.



We have also worked on some of the "2nd gen" 86 cars, namely this 2022 BRZ (above right) owned by our tester Jon Miller. After installing MCS coilovers and Vorshlag top mounts at our shop, I was lucky enough to be able to drive this car on track and in an autocross. I liked it so much that I went and ordered a 2023 for Amy (well, we're trying to order one). I'll talk about all that and more below in this quick 86 update. I'll start off with where we left off work on our red '13 FRS in early 2020.

MCS RR2 COILOVER INSTALL

Knowing we had 18x12" wheels inbound, I decided to remove the Whiteline / AST 5100 coilovers that have been on the car for track testing. We only used them a few times on track before the car underwent the LS swap surgery and then went into hibernation. The spring rates were a bit too soft for real track use with the big 315mm tires and major power infusion to come, and they weren't a brand we planned on selling anytime soon.



We haven't sold AST brand coilovers since 2012 - a decade ago - and I figured it was a good idea to get the best shocks we do sell onto our widebody 86 here. Plus the private label Whiteline deal with AST went sideways almost immediately, so these shocks were now unicorns. Why show something on our own car that nobody can buy?



These MCS Remote Double Adjustable coilovers are still my favorite of their lineup of the 5 different shock models they make for every car. We currently have MCS RR2s (remote doubles) on my 2015 Mustang LS swap car, MCS RR2s on Amy's C6 Corvette, and MCS RR3s (triples) on our endurance E46 LS swap race car... so RR2s for her 86 makes sense. I flubbed it and neglected to take pics of the actual set we installed in April of 2020, so the old 86 RR2 pic (above left) doesn't show our '86 upper rear shock mounts we now make.



The rears look great and we will make proper brackets to mount the reservoirs in the trunk later (above left). And the struts went fine, but I was hoping this install might unlock some inboard wheel room on the front. I ordered 18x12" wheels to replace the 18x11" wheels we had to sell to a customer who needed these 5x100 wheels for his widebody FRS (the Alpha car we finished back in 2015). But as you can see (above right) the wheel is sitting inboard of the spring, so the strut body length gain from going from inverted (AST) to non-inverted (MCS) didn't gain us any usable inboard wheel room - like it does on so many other chassis... the struts are just too short to get that benefit on the 86 chassis.

FORGESTAR 18X12 WHEEL TEST



We had to quickly sell the 18x11s from this car, and as the HPR engine build went from a simple 500 whp HPR LS to a wilder and crazier 454" stroker LS7, I was worried that the 315mm wide 200 Treadwear tires that we had on each corner might not cut it with the extra power, especially at the rear.



My idea of "always use the widest tire the class allows" pushed us to test with an 18x12" wheel, which we received in April of 2020. In the last couple of years custom spec wheels were taking so long and the prices kept climbing on this wheel brand and we don't really order much from them anymore, and stopped selling wheels almost completely, but they made us a set of these for the car. Jason spec'd this 18x12" Super Deep F14 wheel with a 8.25" back spacing for both front and rear, knowing they would fit the rear and as an experiment for the front.



We first tried to test fit the 18x12" wheels without a tire mounted on the front, and it didn't look promising. We couldn't push the wheel inboard further and it was poking. Not good. The wheel testing happened right as the MCS coilovers arrived, but the fronts fit poorly with both the AST and MCS setup. Even after stacking up some spacers these 12" wide wheels simply proved to be more than this Rocket Bunny flare kit could cover. At full lock they were digging into the already modified chassis and I wasn't comfortable with this much tire poke. Lots of pondering...



A pair of 18x12" wheels were mounted with some old 335/30/18 BFG Rivals that we used on our 2014 Mustang ages ago - these tires were from 2014, so we would never drive them on track (old / hard / obsolete compound!) As you can see they fit the rear well. The tire and wheel fit the rear perfectly, no spacer needed and zero poke. Perfection! So these will stay on the rear for the foreseeable future (but with fresh 335 or 345mm tires).



As a "Hail Mary" play I ordered some 38mm wide bolt-on front spacers in May of '20, and Brad installed on onto the front left of the 86 while parked in the lobby. The thought was this would push the wheel outboard enough so the tire could clear the strut, then we'd see how it looked.



Well it "worked", as the 335mm tire now cleared the Hyperco springs on the MCS strut (above left), but the tire poked a solid 20mm past the front flare (above right). Ugh, I cannot stand tire poke, so we had to go back to the drawing board for the front tire and wheel package. Discouraged, but this is what happens sometimes when you are pushing the limits of what is possible!

OTHER UPDATES TO '13 FR-S

We tackled a little more work in April 2020 on this chassis, with a MagnaFlow muffler mocked up and purchased as well as some front "carbon" nose work.



This ExtremeDimensions carbon nose needed some trimming and adjustment to fit around the front headlights better. Again, it was a cheap nose that was much more rigid than the rubber OEM piece and had the openings for the oil coolers we wanted to run. This is the normal adjustment needed on aftermarket composite front ends, trust me.



Last piece of work we did on this car before it went into the lobby to hibernate for two years was test fitting this massive MagnaFlow muffler while on the lift. We had recently purchased a number of these then Magnaflow sponsored a couple more for this build and one other. I have a single version of this on my '00 Silverado and it sounds good with a little 347" LS race engine.



There are two in the back of my 2015 Mustang (that we purchased and built while this 86 was in hibernation) and with two 3.5" Id mufflers this size it is good for 1200+ hp.

HPR LS ENGINE BUILD

Part of the reason to use an HPR engine was that I am one of the partners there, and so it makes sense that we test some new and interesting things. I purchased a sleeved aluminum Gen IV block in 2019 to start this engine build, then Erik spec'd the rods, then the crank, then the pistons, then the heads. A little out of the ordinary on the design order, but this was all done during the Pandemic and supply chain issues made normal choices difficult and lead times long.



I purchased a sleeved aluminum LS block that was already finished honed to 4.185" OD. Normally we use these sleeved LS blocks with a 4.185" final bore and a 4.25" stroke crank to reach 468" of displacement, or 7.7L. The calc is like this: Bore area (4.185^2 x pi / 4) x stroke (4.25") x 8 cylinders = displacement. The HPR 468" is pretty amazing and these regularly make 650 - 750 whp for road race engines, depending on compression, intake manifold, and fuel.

4.125" STROKE 8CW CRANK

One of the first things we wanted to test was a fully counter-weighted (8 full sized counterweights) from Scat that had a 4.125" stroke. The cost was a really strong motivator and this unit is priced well for an 8 CW crank, but it gives up a bit of displacement from the normal 4.250" stroke the HPR guys normally use on stroker 468" engines. This 1/8" of stroke change makes this only a 454" engine, or 7.44L.



And we had to modify the crank to work with the LS7/LS9 OEM style dry sump pump I wanted to use. Converting this "short snout" crank to a "long snout" is a costly and time consuming job we only trust to one vendor, but we got it back a couple of months later, and it balanced out great. After this it was still a savings over a custom billet crank to get 8 full counter weights in 4.125" stroke.

LIGHT PISTONS, LIGHT RODS AND PIN GUIDED SPACERS

One of the things engine builder Erik Koenig wanted to test was lighter than normal pistons and rods. Removing weight from the reciprocating assembly reaps benefits with both reliability and lower inertia, for an engine that revs quickly. It is also worth a little more power, and can be used at higher RPMs.



One way to remove a lot of mass from the "big end" of a connecting rod is to use "pin guided" rods, which are aligned to the bore by the pistons, instead of the traditional way of aligning these at the crank by the big end of the rods.



In April of 2020 we took this set of lightweight Scat H-beam alloy steel rods and removed some of the width on our CNC lathe, above. This was an easy process and we just followed Erik's specifications, which he came by to triple check with us.



You can see the machined outer faces on the big end of these rods, above. The before and after is shown above right. This removed "many grams" from the big end, but due to business reasons I cannot share everything there.



We also machined these rod spacers that go inside the custom spec'd Wiseco pistons, above. Instead of a tapered opening these were machined by Wiseco for a pin guided rod, so they are square to the small end of the rod's faces. These aluminum spacers were fit to each rod and piston and marked before final assembly. The piston now positions the rod on the crank instead of the traditional crank journal positioning the rod and floating on the piston pin. It is a common trick in F1, NASCAR, and even some OEMs like Mercedes do this.



The rod bearings at the crank are narrower to work with the now narrower (and lighter) big end of the modified rods. Erik personally checked the fit of each rod / space / piston assembly when it all went together. Along with his 3D milled lightweight pistons we end up with a reciprocating assembly that has less bob weight mass than a titanium rodded LS engine, at a lower cost and without the compromises that titanium rods can have long term.

ASSEMBLING THE HPR 454" LS SHORTBLOCK

In January of 2021 I worked with Erik after hours at HPR to assemble the 454" shortblock. The first night we worked on installing all of the plugs and checking the block top to bottom, after it was final honed, align honed, and washed.



We then moved to checking the crank bearing clearances. A set of narrowed bearings was installed then the main caps were torqued to spec. Then the bores of the bearings are checked and each cap is marked, then checked against each main journal of the crank. If the spec's are not right an over or undersized set of bearings is then tested.



We took the freshly balanced 4.125" 8 CW crank and mocked that up in the block. Then it was time to check main bearing clearances, which took longer than you'd think. We went through a couple of different sets of bearings to get the .002" clearance Erik wanted for what we will do with this engine.



Above we are dialing in the thrust clearance, which is the middle main bearing on the LS engines. There are some small tricks there to get the number you want for either an automatic or manual transmission (and they are slightly different).



With the mains bearing clearances set we torqued the main caps on for "the final time" and bagged up the engine until the next after-hours work session.



Before the rods were installed Erik spec'd and ordered a custom hydraulic roller Comp Camshaft for this engine and that was installed.



In the images above Erik is setting the cam plate on the front, then it was time to install rods and pistons.



I didn't get great pictures of this, as your hands get covered in assembly oil during this step and I didn't want to slather my phone in that. Setting up the ring end gaps and installing the rings, rods, and pins took a lot of time.

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continued from above

FORGESTAR 18X11 WHEELS FOR FRONT (AGAIN)

After the 18x12" wheel testing in April and May of '20 was a bust on the front we had to make a tough choice. I ordered four more 18x11" wheels in the same spec as before, which we can keep up front and have an entire spare set for the car of 18x11" front and 18x12" rears. This will allow us to have a a staggered 315/335 setup with a duplicate set of 18x11/18x12" wheels for backup use - you never want to have just one set of wheels for a race car. We know the 315mm fronts work well and the 335mm rears should better deal with the 700+ whp this engine should put out. We can never have too much tire at this power level.



This set of 18x11s was ordered in the exact same spec as the set we ran in 2019, so we know they will fit. But I had Brad put these on in March of 2021, just to make sure they were made to the spec we sent. These took nearly eleven months to arrive, which is one reason why we no longer sell wheels from this group - nobody can wait that long for custom wheels.

MAKING CUSTOM "OPEN" TUNER LUGS

To make wheels for these small 5x100 bolt circles you quickly run out of room for lug nut "wells" near the hub bore / center cap opening area. To make the lugs fit without weakening the hub area of a wheel you often have to use low profile "tuner lugs". Most of you know what these are - lower profile lug nuts that require a special socket to install. They have some anti-theft aspects because of that, too.



These smaller external lug nuts can fit in smaller lug wells better than larger diameter lug nuts. But tuner lugs are almost always closed ended, and we now have longer wheel studs on the front of this car (for safety and to allow the use of spacer to dial in track width and wheel fit). So we chucked up the tuner lug nuts in the lathe and lopped the capped ends off. We've done this before and it doesn't compromise the lug nut strength in any way. As you can see (above left) the threaded section of the lug nut wasn't touched, so it has the same thread engagement as before when installed on the fronts (above right).

2nd GEN 2022 BRZ RELEASED!

As most of you reading this probably know, Subaru and Toyota worked together once again to created a 2nd generation of the 86 chassis; the first gen was built from 2013-2021 models and the 2nd gen is 2022-up.



We have done a lot with the 1st gens and were hoping someone we knew would bring us a 2nd gen for a weight check and maybe some suspension testing...

2022 BRZ WEIGHED & MEASURED

In November of 2021 our long time tester Jon Miller brought by his newly ordered 2022 Subaru BRZ Premium that he custom ordered with all of the STi options. We brought it into the shop to get an initial weight check on this all new chassis - which has a stiffer chassis than the 1st gen 2013-21 model BRZ/FRS/86.



It also has a larger displacement (2.0L to 2.4L) and a more powerful (200 to 228 hp) engine, built similarly to the outgoing FA20. Bigger displacement engines tend to make more horsepower - duh! - which is what our LS swaps are all about. But it feels more than "10% more powerful". The reality is that the measured dyno power numbers show a bigger gain, from around 155-160 whp on the old 2.0L to 215-220 whp on the new 2.4L engine. Very noticeable power bump!



Amazingly the stiffer, newer chassis didn't gain any appreciable weight. This 2744 pound weight is without the spare, jack and other "trunk junk" removed, and with 1/4 tank of fuel. This is how you would race the car, especially an autocross, so this is a real weight. Not published curb weight or some other made up number, but real ON THE SCALES numbers.



One of the places they saved weight was on the front uprights, which are aluminum - at least on the Subaru version (the Toyota version is supposedly steel). The wheels are still itty bitty 7.5" wide with 215mm tires, and the brakes are smol, but all of that can be fixed!



After our measurement check and we verified that yes, the 2nd gen was good to go with the same struts, camber plates, rear shocks, and rear shock mounts, Jon ordered a set of MCS single adjustable coilovers with some aggressive spring rates for autocross and track use.



I'm not going to bore you with "driving impressions" and fluff - there's dozens of youtube reviews for all of that for the stock models. We focus on aftermarket suspension, weight, wheel fitment, and the like here.

2022 BRZ COILOVER INSTALL

In March of 2022 Jon brought his car to Vorshlag for the install of these MCS TT1 coilovers. Unlike the RR2 set above on Amy's car, I managed to take pictures of the actual MCS set we installed on his car that day. We installed them with our Vorshlag top mounts at all four corners and Eibach springs, with tenders at the rear. Jason setup this with 700#/in fronts and 650 #/in rears - which is very aggressive, but Jon is going to do a LOT of autocross and Time Trial in this car.



Like we always do, we started out with a check of ride heights, cambers, and toe settings all around, then we dug into the MCS install. the '22 came in with -0.7 deg camber up front and -1.0 deg rear.



This is about a four hour job, start to finish, like most coilover installs tend to be. We took a little extra time in there to get some good pictures, measurements, and more.



One of the tricks that MCS uses to gain suspension travel while "shortening" the strut body is to kick the housing body below the spindle. You can see the side by side images above with their TT1 strut next to the OEM version, above left. If this was an AWD or FWD car they couldn't push the body down like that, of course. And it this was some Chinese eBay strut (BC and all of their variations) they wouldn't know to do that, so you'd lose suspension travel. This setup is made to be lowered 1-2" from stock ride heights while keeping all of the original suspension travel.



The rear is a simple coilover shock - like the OEM version - except with a shorter body and much stiffer spring rate. There is plenty of suspension travel in the rear on these multi-link cars, which is a plus. A change to the rear lower arm (above left) from the 1st gen is the only notable suspension change, and there are several companies working on an aftermarket, camber adjustable version (like our friends at SPL Parts).



We lowered the ride height about 1" front and rear and the new setup allowed for -3.6 deg front camber and we saw -2.6 rear. I asked Jon to immediately go get the car aligned, of course. And since he didn't, and there was some toe mismatch, he trashed his front tires after about 5 weeks of street use. Alignments matter!



Jon already had purchased Enkei RPF1 17x9" wheels and 245/40R17 Falken RT-660 tires, one of the newest and quickest 200 TW tires out on the market. Wheel specs are +45 offset on the RPF1's, with a 10mm spacer up front (to allow easy tire rotation). I got a few shots of the car outside for this write-up, of course.



I went on a test drive after the install with Jon riding shotgun, and while it was a much firmer ride (double adjustables could have helped this) the slalom and turning ability was much improved. And yes, the added torque was apparent. We chatted about a track day test, and I offered to let him join me as a guest on my next time out...

'22 BRZ TRACK TEST AT MSR 1.7

Jon met me and Amy out at Motorsport Ranch Cresson on March 24th, 2022 as a guest on this members only track day (it was a Thursday morning, so we had almost no traffic to deal with). I brought our narrow body 2006 Corvette on its 5th track test, to try out our newly installed Mk60 ABS system (which worked AMAZINGLY well, other than a bad rear alignment issue we found later) with the 16 year old springs and shocks (which were not in good shape!)

Photo Gallery: https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-...Test-5-032422/



Driving the BRZ was really easy, while driving the C6 was a hot mess (we had toe out in the rear, which was always trying to kill us). Amy drove the C6 for a lot of laps, and I drove it in two stints - one with Jon riding shotgun (he had never driven the MSR 1.7). Jon drove his BRZ for a good bit after I took a few laps in his car, also.



When I finally hopped into Jon's car and it was still 50 deg F outside, and windy, so the track temps weren't great. Jon had driven 11 hot laps, then I took another 4 with him in the right seat getting a feel for the car and showing him the line. He hopped out and I took ONE hot lap solo before they threw the checkered flag, on RT-660 tires that were boiling hot...



It had been a solid 7 months since I had been on track up to this point, so I was plenty rusty. The video for the 1:26.9 lap run shown above was far from perfect, and a better setup in the future fixed a lot of issues (Jon was later able to run a 1:23 in this car). That's a mediocre lap time, considering the car has shocks/springs/top mounts, a GReddy cat-back, and 17x9" wheels and 245mm Falken tires.



This BRZ wasn't even aligned yet (to be fair, the C6 wasn't either), and it had a fair bit of front toe out that made things twitchier on turn-in than it should have been. I was also still dialing in the Rebound knobs on these MCS singles, too. I barely edged a quicker time in our narrow body C6 on the stock springs and 275 Hankook RS-4 tires, too (we have since installed MCS RR2 coilovers on that and dropped 4 sec on the same tires.) Jon had a ball, I had fun driving both cars, and Amy had fun too. Beats workin!

'22 BRZ AUTOCROSS

Jon offered a co-drive at an autocross so literally three days after the track test above I was wheeling this '22 on an asphalt parking lot at Lone Star Park horse track at an event hosted by Equipe Rapide.

Photo Gallery: https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-...ER-LSP-032722/



I co-drove with Jon Miller in STR class, in what we feel was the first Gen 2 Subaru BRZ that was prepped for this class? At least in Texas we hadn't seen a prepped '22 86 yet.



Note the image above - the loaded outside front tire is almost straight up with -3.5 deg of static front camber! I hadn't autocrossed much in the last 2 years so I was rusty here, but with 33+ years of this it kinda came back. Jon rode through with me and I rode with him on 2 runs each. Then we took solo runs to get the best out of the car without the weight of a passenger.



While still dropping lots of time figuring out this course and this car, I peaked a bit early and had my fastest run on my 4th run in this video (which at the time was Fastest Time of Day, or FTD). Jon found his fastest on run 6, and we both beat the 6 other entries in STR class handily - which are all 4th gen "ND" MX5 Miatas, all STR prepped.



With just MCS TT1s, camber plates, 17x9s and 245 Falkens the '22 BRZ took 1-2 in class, set the 3rd fastest time of the day, and 6th fastest in PAX (we won money). Quite the debut for this car! This sealed the deal - we had to buy one now.

ATTEMPTS TO ORDER A '23 BRZ...

The '22 model year is essentially sold out at this point, so we had to wait a bit for the '23 model year to open up for ordering. On Saturday May 14th I tried to place my order with Five Star Subaru of Grapevine. The dealer I wanted to work with was making a delivery, but the sales manager told me the ordering system was down (and stayed down for five days). But when it did start back up the dealer told us "no new BRZ orders can be made at this time" due to "a lack of parts to make them". So the Supply Chain mess continues...



I was trying to order a Premium package in red, 6 speed manual, and most of the optional STi Goodies. You can see some of the "port installed" STi optional aero bits on Jon's car below, which showed up months after the car did.



If this order is ever placed (I call every week!) we will install MCS coilovers, 17x9" wheels, 245-255mm wide 200TW tires and plan to run it in two different series. For SCCA autocross it will be run in STR class, like Jon's '22 BRZ. But for track use we have another class we're looking at SCCA TT Tuning 3... which I will talk about that in a future post.

WHAT'S NEXT?

After a long hiatus from any from of competition I am getting back to the track and even doing more autocross events. Sometimes in borrowed cars (this C5 below, Jon's '22 BRZ) and sometimes in our own cars (the 2006 C6). I have been going to the track 1-2 times per month in 2022 as well. Amy and I really need our "real" race cars back, like my 2015 Mustang (it is almost done) and Amy's 2013 FRS (which is coming back into the shop). If/when we can get our hands on a 2nd gen 86 we will track and autocross that also. Should be some fun times ahead!



That's all for this time. We are clearing customer cars out of the shop at a rapid place and not planning to bring any new ones in - instead focusing on our own project cars, developing parts for various chassis, and not rely on car builds for the business to succeed. This move will reduce or eliminate a TON of project management / customer management / procurement work for me, so that's a huge win.

Thanks for reading!

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Project update for December 27th, 2022: This last year (2022) was a very busy time for Vorshlag and for my time on track (30 track days). I spent a large part of this year running our C6 on track, getting a lot of seat time and even autocrossed it once. We did get my personal 2015 Mustang LS swapped race car running, and I am looking forward to competing in that in 2023. The 2013 FR-S has not made it into the shop yet but should soon, and then we can get busy with that.



Most importantly for this thread our 2023 Subaru BRZ order did get placed and the car arrived on November 29th! By December 15th we had taken it to THREE different track days at two tracks and made a number of changes to it. Break-in miles be damned! We have a lot of plans for this car, and it will be Amy's primary Time Trial and autocross car for 2023.



This post will show what's gone down in the last 4 weeks - which is a lot - covering both 1st gen (GT86) and 2nd gen (GR86) models. This post grew in size, and after 3 separate installments I had to cut it off before I was done catching up. Don't worry, we will have many more posts on this decade+ old thread in the coming months.

ORDERING & PICKING UP THE 2ND GEN 2023 BRZ

After driving Jon Miller's 2022 BRZ, Amy was 100% on board with ordering one. The plan was to get a Toyota GR86 and run it for the 2023 season, until her 2013 FR-S was finished and running again with the V8. She would use the 2nd gen 86 to get her skills back in shape, like I did with the C6 in 2022 - where I ran it at 22 track days or Time Trials and entered 3 autocross events.

We went into a Toyota dealership in May 2022 and they were total jerks. The only way they would sell us a car was with a +$4000 dealer package of a bunch of nonsense we didn't want: window tint, scotch guard, lojack, and that sort of garbage. This is almost 100% added profit. Even with a custom order, they refused to not add these unwanted "upgrades", and said "every Toyota dealer is doing this!"



So we went to a Subaru dealer from a chain we had purchased a half dozen cars from, with a recommendation for an actual salesman (who Jon got his '22 from), and they didn't try to play this game. We are fine with paying MSRP in 2022, with the massive shortage of new cars, but we want to custom order it and not get stuck with any crap we don't want. Window tint on a track car? That's crazy.



We went in May and it took several weeks for the order banks to open up, but we got in line for a 2023 and it arrived 6 months later. Yes, that is a long time to wait, but it is the reality of buying a car in 2022 with massive supply chain limitations. Sure we could have "found" a car almost like we wanted but it wouldn't have been the exact spec Amy ordered, and it would have been over sticker. Patience eventually paid off.



With only a $500 deposit we had the exact car Amy wanted on order and she was super excited. Buying a new car is nice, but custom ordering one just the way you want is even more special. We've done this a few times and it is nothing like just picking up a random car on the lot - it is YOUR custom build, and always will be.



The car arrived Nov 29th and we rushed over to Five Star Subaru to pick it up mid-day. We were there for a couple of hours while they got all of the paperwork ready, so we took it for a test drive and Amy loved it. It had 10 miles on the odometer and while we were in signing papers they detailed the car - but per my instructions added no dealership decals or badges.



Mitchel, the dealer we worked with, showed Amy all of the controls, buttons, screens and features while I loaded up all of the optional "STI" add-on goodies that came with this custom order - luckily everything arrived when the car did.



The dealership installed the optional STi red push to start button assembly and we took everything else back to the shop to install - which I will show below.

PARTS ORDERED BEFORE BRZ ARRIVED!

When the car was only a few weeks from arriving and we were fairly sure of what we wanted to do with respect to mods, there were a few upgrades we wanted to do early on. The number one concern most 2022 owners had was - the excessive RTV applied to oil pan gaskets at the factory, which could end up clogging the oil pickup tube - and starving the engine of oil.



Since the oil pan would be coming off we might as well put an oil pan baffle in there, to prevent sloshing of oil in the wet sump oil pan, which can also starve the oil pump pickup. Jon recommended that I order this Tomei oil pan baffle from Black Hawk Japan, and I did so - along with a few other little items. Turns out the RTV issue was a bit overblown, and our 2023 model had virtually no excess RTV in the oil pickup tube. I will cover that below.



These "STi fender garnish" plastics are the optional parts for the Japanese Market 86, and I liked the look of them on Jon's car, so I got those form Black Hawk at the same time (the part number is in the picture, above left). The stock fender vent plastics (above right) are pretty boring, and these JDM versions just stick on top of those.

DRIVING THE EQUALIZER - 2020 TOYOTA 86 - AT ECR (TWICE)

A local track called Eagles Canyon Raceway is one I have been driving on since it opened in 2008. We ran there on the 2.5 mile circuit constantly from 2008-2015, setting numerous class track records in NASA, but the surface got so torn up that we could not longer take a car out there with a front splitter. Our 2018 Mustang GT had enough suspension travel to be used there and we ran there again in March 2018 right before the track was sold, completely dug up, re-built with the proper sub-base and drainage, and repave - adding several corners.



In 2022 I finally got to drive the new 2.7 mile course 4 different times in the C6 Corvette, twice in each direction at SCCA and NASA Time Trial events, racking up three class wins in SCCA TT (T2 class) and one 2nd place finish with NASA (TT2). Really enjoy running here and the amount of work they have done to the facilities at ECR is staggering - I would guess in the $4-8 million range, far surpassing everyone's expectations. The new owners are not messing around!



Anyway, the track manager (Brad Flack) is an SCCA racing friend from way back, and his son-in-law worked at HPR for several years. ECR has a good relationship with Toyota, who has their US headquarters ($1.6B facility) here in the north Dallas area. One of the things that an automaker does is test new parts with "non-DOT" pre-production cars, which can be driven for 24 months then must be CRUSHED. Well long story short, some of these end up at ECR as demonstration cars, like this 1st gen 2020 Toyota 86.



Unlike the fleet of Supras, BMWs, and Porsches at ECR, this 86 was destined for another fate - it is the Equalizer car used for a charity drive. The event spanned November and December 2022, and for $150 you get three timed laps in the car and your best lap goes on The Leaderboard. All proceeds benefit two local charities, so several folks stepped up and donated things like the PFC brake pads, the tires, and we donated Vorshlag camber plates as well.



My first attempt to drive the car was on Nov 27th, 2022, and I was really there to get a buddy Paul into a 1st gen 86, one of which we might buy for an endurance race car, that I might be a part of in some way. My friend Jerry was also there to try his hand at the 86 - everyone drives the same car. They had fresh 225/40R18 Hankook RS4 tires on and some PFC brake pads - otherwise it was a bone stock 2022 GT86 automatic. I brought my Solo DL and connected it to the CAN wiring in the car to get some good data.



So my drive in November was a bit compromised by taking passenger Paul on board. One week later the ECR team had the camber plates installed and I was there for a NASA TT weekend in the C6 (above left) and the 2023 BRZ (see write-up below), but I also took the opportunity to drive the Equalizer again with our donated camber plates installed - and as I predicted this would be worth 3 seconds worth of time drop.



Driving the The Equalizer again on Dec 4th, with camber did make a 3 second change on this 2.7 mile course. I had a race car that spun in front of me (literally slinging parts) in my 1st lap, my 2nd lap was getting the tires warmed up (2:19), and my 3rd lap was much quicker - until a BMW in this HPDE session forced a pass, and ruined my lap. He had to know that I was paying $150 for that one lap (everyone was briefed on the Equalizer laps, and you could see the graphics from 200 yards), but when you are a W2W racer, nobody else matters - every DE session is a life or death race! Oh well, it was all for charity and I still had fun, just not an impressive lap with that 2:29.771.



The lat / lon peak Gs and top speed differences in the 2020 GT86 driven at ECR on the same tires, 1 week apart. The second set of numbers are with Vorshlag camber plates and max neg camber. Peak lateral was only slightly better with the camber plates added, and peak braking slightly worse, but the +5 mph peak speed differential and a solid 3 sec lap time drop were the real "data heroes" #cambermatters

2023 BRZ: INITIAL WEIGHT & FIRST PARTS INSTALLED

We got our car back to the shop late on Nov 29th, and the next day we took the initial weight of the car in totally stock form. This was with nearly a full fuel tank and all of the "trunk junk" still in place (jack & tire iron).



Its a very light car, nearly 1000 pounds lighter than our last new car - the 2018 Mustang GT. But with less than half the power (200 whp vs 440 whp), we know that the power to weight ratio is going to be a hair worse than that big pony car. Look for the low fuel weight in the next installment, which we took a few weeks later.



Before we got to work we had a massive pile of parts that I had been ordering for weeks - which we laid out and took the picture in front of the BRZ. This is our first round up upgrades we have planned, and includes the optional STI "aero" doo-dads we ordered with the car, a set of wheels and tires, the MCS remote reservoir doubles with springs and top mounts, and the Tomei oil pan baffle.



The very first item ordered were the wheels - 17x9" ET45 wheels from Enkei. These flow formed "TFR" wheels were far from our first choice, and they ended up being a tad heavy at 19.7 lbs each, but these were very inexpensive and the added mass should make them very strong for this size. We also ordered a set of 255/40R17 Yokohama A052 tires. I went back and forth on that choice, but decided to go with the fastest 200 Treadwear ("200TW") tire that I know of - the A052. This tire warms up VERY quickly so it is perfect for Autocross... but not so perfect for Time Trial, if you cannot put down your best lap on lap 1. We will invest in another set of wheels and tires for TT.



We picked up the car late on a Tuesday and I wanted to be on track early Thursday morning - so we had ONE DAY to do some initial prep. So the first thing I tasked our crew with was the Tomei FA24 oil pan baffle install. To get started Doug removed the aluminum undertray (above left), then removed the exhaust crossover piping (above right).



The big concern with the early 2022 production FA24 engines is that some assembly line worker putting these engines together was using far too much RTV sealant when installing the oil pan. This can break loose inside the pan and clog up the plastic oil pickup tube. That proved to be a non-issue on our 2023 model, but Doug did dig a small sliver of RTV out of the pick-up tube screen. Oh well, can't know until you yank the pan and check.



I was watching every step of this oil pan baffle install, but Doug has been wrenching for 25+ years and knocked it out quickly. The oil pan was cleaned thoroughly, the screen on the pickup tube was cleaned out (using a long pick - to remove it requires the front engine cover to come off - major work), and Permatex "The Right Stuff" gray sensor safe RTV was used to make the new gasket. That is applied to both sides of the baffle, which goes between the bottom of the block and the oil pan.



After the oil pan was buttoned up and the undertray were back on, it was time to replace the original factory 0W20 oil - which had only 75 miles on it. We decided on a 5W30 Motul 8100 synthetic, which would work well in the cold months ahead as well as when pushed hard on track. It takes 5.7 quarts to fill the engine to the correct amount.



The only other "mod" that I wanted to have ready was another set of tires. The goal was to go Thursday or Friday and run the BRZ on the stock tires / brake pads For Test #1, then swap over to another set of tires at the track and run that for Test #2. After looking at the stock wheel size (18x7.5" on this Limited package car), I picked a 225/40R18 Falken RT-660 to use on the stock wheels for some early testing.



The 225/40R18 size is a BIT TOO WIDE for the stock 18x7.5" wheel (to be honest), but this was just going to be a cheap upgraded set for initial use on the stock wheels. For any competition in Autocross (STR class) we will use the 255/40R17 Yokohama A052 on the class limit 9" wide wheels. For SCCA Time Trial T3 class we can use another 200TW tire up to 285mm, but that might not fit. We will know more after we install the MCS dampers in the coming weeks.

FACTORY OPTIONAL STI TRIM BITS + CONTROVERSY

Since the weather didn't cooperate we had an extra day, so Brad stepped in to install some of the optional STI parts, which are normally dealer installed but we took them to do the install here at Vorshlag.



The front splitter lip extension is a bit fiddly, with some holes that have to be drilled and a lot of fasteners installed. Brad knocked this out in a couple of hours, careful not to scratch any paint. The lip was mocked up with blue tape initially so all of the holes could be marked.



The instructions that come with the parts show pulling the entire bumper cover off, but we skipped that step and Brad got it installed properly without removing the nose.



The other two STI optional pieces installed were in front of and behind the rear wheel arches. There are both holes to drill and screws to install as well as some sticky tape included.

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These went on without much fuss - but installing these "style enhancing" factory optional plastic doo-dads inflamed some serious business autocrossers! So much so that I had to make a meme...



I am not making this up - when I showed the parts all laid out in front of the car onto one FB group, some SCCA autocrossers were crying "foul!" and making a big stink about how "these parts lower lap times - its been proven!" Instead of arguing with them, I just removed our post and left that group. There is no winning with weenie protest folks, and I doubt we will ever run this car outside of local fun autocross events. The primary focus - other than developing and testing parts we make and/or sell - is to build around SCCA Time Trial T3 class. I will cover that below.

TRACK TESTS #1 AND #2 - MSR 1.7 CCW, DEC 2, 2022

The weather was less than cooperative the week of our first two tests - even though it was beautiful Monday and Tuesday, the weather turned sour Wednesday and it rained through Friday morning. I took a gamble and loaded up my track gear, cameras and timers, and the extra set of RT-660 tires and drove the BRZ to MSR Cresson on Friday morning - hoping for some clear weather once I got there.



I left at 6:30 am and arrived at the track on 8:15 am - when I left the shop it was warm (60F) and dry. About halfway there it started spitting rain. It was wet, about 35F with windchill, and visibility was about 50 feet. The fog was like soup! The first session at 8:30 was wet and they let one car go out, but the visibility got worse and they closed the track for about 2 hours.



I sat there with Jon Miller for 3 hours waiting for the fog to lift, the rain to stop and the track to dry out. We didn't waste that time, as Jon showed me how to set the RPM warning chime (we set that at 7200 rpm, fuel cut is at 7500), the right way to engage "track mode" (press the traction control button for 5 seconds - it changes the digital dash readout completely!), and how to navigate the various data displays. By 11 am it was not getting better, the track was closed, so we both left. I drove the BRZ with all of the extra tires and my track stuff and a set of dampers out to Texas Track Works, 25 miles away.



It was a good visit at TTW, and I dropped off a set of coilovers with Vorshlag top mounts they ordered from us and chatted with Trent for a bit - most of their crew was out at ECR for a NASA race weekend already. I also saw Lew's blue 2nd gen BRZ with 17x9 RPF1 wheels in the "Shadow Chrome" finish - which I wanted to get but these are the "wrong" offset for the 2nd gens (ET35). They fit great on the front but not the rear.



Instead of heading back to the shop from TTW, I looked at the weather and the following week looked worse. I called out to the track and it had stopped raining and drying up, so I drove back out there, unloaded all of my gear, added the AiM SOLO DL and video camera. The wind picked up and dried the track up, but I missed the 12:30 session. The next time I could go out was 2:30 pm - so I had to wait 2 more hours!



I went out at 2:30 pm chasing a C7 GS for the first 4-5 laps. I ran 6 laps in that session and managed a 1:28.638 Baseline Stock Lap on Lap 5 on the Michelin tires, with the "cold" pressures set at 30 psi. I did the whole session with the back seat down and the buffeting inside the car above 90 mph was REALLY BAD, deafening. Must setup some sort of resonance chamber within the trunk. Pro Tip: Run with the back seat up!

By Lap 5 I had boiled the stock brake fluid - we should have flushed that crap out then and there and added Motul RBF600. That lap was still a tenth of a second quicker than the Baseline Stock Lap in the C6!



I then ran over to Doghouse Performance and they mounted the RT-660 tires onto the stock wheels - they were ready for me and got this knocked out in less than an hour and was ready and was ready to go back out at 3:30 pm to run Track Test #2!



I ran a longer stint that time, and came in after 6 laps to bleed the tires down after running a 1:26.9. The factory TPMS sensors were reading 34-35 psi, but my air gauge that I trust was showing 38-39 psi, which was too high - so I aired them down to 35 psi hot. I opened the hood and sat there for 5 minutes letting the tires cool off, waiting for some cars to peel off. I found a gap in traffic and went back out for 6 more laps and only had to pass one car.



The RT-660s like some heat but not too much - and they put in their best lap (above) on lap 2, fully 2.3 seconds faster than the Michelins at a 1:26.376 - within an hour of each lap at the same 64F ambient temps. the sun wasn't even burning off the cloud cover until after I came in.



After that session was over I loaded up the tires and gear, got a splash of fuel (and was distracted by someone admiring the car an asking questions and over-filled it) then headed back to the shop at about 4:30 pm. The track was a little green after the rain, so not perfect conditions, but the ambient was nearly perfect. I'm glad I stuck around and got the first two baseline laps done, so we can have a gauge of where we started and how far we could go with each mod.

NASA TIME TRIAL - ECR 2.7 CCW, DEC 4, 2022

This Dec 3-4 event with NASA was one of my most frustrating and challenging Time Trial weekends in memory, with poor weather, improper car prep, and utterly terrible traffic in every single session that I drove in 3 different cars across both days. On Saturday of this weekend, I drove our C6 in TT2 class, likely for the last time in this car - which we bought to keep us on track in something before Amy's 86 arrived and my Mustang was completed. The Corvette's brakes were cooked - the fluid had boiled and the pads were super thin - so that was on me, for not prepping the car after the last event in the C6 here, 2 weeks earlier (where we won our SCCA TT class, T2).



Missing the first TT session sent the day into the toilet, meaning I had to start from the back of the grid and pass a dozen cars. Once I had moved up the TT grid I still got stuck in traffic all day. Even with the traffic and junk brakes I managed a 2nd out of 7 in class and 4th quickest TT time of the weekend, running a 2:05 lap (I ran a 2:03 lap here in this car with 200TW street tires 2 weeks earlier). It was very frustrating day on track with this car, and I damn sure didn't want to run it again on Sunday.



I also drove the Equalizer car (above left) on Saturday, so we decided late that day to pack up the C6 in the trailer and bring the 2023 BRZ on Sunday, just drive it out with our gear. So on Saturday we asked Doug to come to the shop and he flushed the boiled brakes and bled the system with Motul RBF600. But the OEM front brake pads were pretty thin, and would eventually get "metal-to-metal" later on Sunday.



It was still pretty cold and we had to rush the BRZ through tech and get it log booked, then hurriedly make some class numbers and letters with blue tape. Embarrassing to not have numbers and letters not ready, but we literally decided to bring this late Saturday afternoon.



Early that morning it was not only bitterly cold but wet - with a sprinkling of rain happening when the TT group went out, so I skipped that session. Instead I took Amy for a ride-along in the BRZ in an HPDE 3-4 session at 9:45 am, when it was still a bit wet. We were on the same 225/40R18 RT-660 tires from Track Test #2, and now with Motul fluid so the pedal wasn't dead, but still very worn front pads. I took some 80% laps in the wet to show her the line - she hasn't driven the new 2.7 CCW course yet, and I had 2 days on it by now. Which curbs you can drive over, which to avoid, and where to brake.



I planned to run the car in the 2nd Time Trial group of the day, but due to the NASA schedule for Sunday had several long-ish W2W racers, that wasn't until after 1 pm. So we stayed in the clubhouse to stay warm, grabbed some lunch at the Over the Top bar and grill on site, then I went to the TT grid and put myself at the back - even though the "Team Vorshlag" entry could have started 4th on grid from my C6 placement yesterday, I felt that the stock BRZ would be the slowest car in grid (I was so wrong).



Again, I wasn't here to try to win or place in TT5 class, I just (foolishly) thought that the Time Trial group would be the best place to try to get a clear lap in the car in stock form here. Wow, what a joke this session turned into. Had a couple of W2W guys playing "paddy cake" in front of me the whole session, doing "lead follow" drills - that should have been done in an HPDE session. W2W racers starting behind me on grid ruined my first lap, cars spinning in front of me, going slow AF and more. Super frustrating, and I had to edit my video above to remove the worst of it, because I am cursing up a blue streak inside the car.

As unpleasant as the session was, I did manage one lap with only slight traffic and got a "Baseline Stock" lap in the BRZ here, which was the true goal. My 2:16 lap in the stock '23 BRZ was over 3 seconds quicker than I was the day before in the 1st gen GT86 (which had camber plates). That is encouraging, and the extra 50 whp the FA24 engine makes was very apparent in this car.



Most importantly Amy got to drive her car on track for the first time! She ran two full sessions in the BRZ in HPDE 3/4 groups. I rode with her in her last session late on Sunday and I noticed the front brake noises she complained about in her previous session. Yep, I killed the front stock pads in my 4 sessions on track (2 at MSR + 2 at ECR)! She brought the car in early and we drove it home metal-to-metal, but that was fairly uneventful. We had GLOC pads ordered (that would be on the car soon) and would get some replacement rotors for $40 each, no biggie.

REAR STI SPOILER INSTALLED

The day after we got back from ECR the crew got to work. The optional rear STI lip spoiler was added to the stock rear spoiler, in the steps shown below.



This isn't something I would recommend for any sort of track performance or lap time drop - these factory optional STI doo-dads are all for looks, and Amy likes the black contrast on the red BRZ. There are bigger versions available for the GR86 if you want something that might make a tiny lap time drop.



Open the trunk and remove the fabric liner, then unbolt the stock rear spoiler - the trunk looks WEIRD with that off! Lots of holes for snap pins and bolts. Then take the instructions from the kit and cut out the templates (above right), which are used to mark where to drill.



Once the small pilot holes are drilled from underneath, they are opened up to the final size on the top. Then the bolt-on + stick-on STI spoiler extension is bolted and stuck on.



Then the new 2-piece rear spoiler is bolted back to the stock trunk. Took a little over an hour to do this carefully and methodically, and it looks nice. Again, do not expect a lap time drop - unlike the two mods shown below!

BRAKE PAD UPGRADE

Now we are getting into some REAL MODS, and no longer adding plastic doo-dads! The day after the NASA event at ECR we had the BRZ on the lift to look at the damage I did to the front brakes.



In less than 500 miles of use we had logged 6 track sessions at two tracks on the stock brake pads, and sent them metal-to-metal - plus boiled the stock brake fluid (after 2 sessions at MSR). Doug had flushed the fluid before ECR but the pads we had ordered weren't there in time, which limited our track sessions that day. Now the pads were showing to arrive any day, but we needed at least one rotor, from the sounds they made on the way back from ECR.



The front pads wore to the backing plate out on the Left Front. The Right Front set of pads had a sliver of material left, and the rear pads looked fine (see below). This isn't unusual or at all surprisingly (I have killed brand new OEM pads in -ONE- session before), and this is why we always recommend DEDICATED TRACK PADS to everyone even halfway quick when you go to the track.



Why do OEM brake pads wear so quickly? Because everything is a compromise. An OEM brake pad is quiet / dust free / great when cold out, and what we call a "street pad". A dedicated track brake pad is the opposite of that: it is noisy / makes lots of dust / but it works well HOT. Higher friction, and much better wear at elevated rotor temps. There is no magic brake pad that does both well - to make an OEM brake system that can last on the track involves spending more MONEY for an over-sized, fixed racing style caliper with a much large brake pad. Even then, dedicated pads still last longer on track.



This car comes with a cheap "sliding" caliper on both the front axle (2 piston) and rear (single piston). Sliding calipers tend to have tapered pad wear, like we saw on this front pad set. They also don't tend to have the best brake "feel", not like a fixed caliper does (where the caliper doesn't slide - the pads move in to touch the caliper on both sides from the caliper). And while the LF set of pads that to metal trashed the that rotor, the RF did not so that rotor will be saved as a spare. Time to order two new Centric rotors ASAP.



It took two days but we received these Centric replacement rotors for about $40 each, and decided to use both of them. I have plans for a Big Brake Kit (BBK) on this car and we might as well get some good use out of these extremely inexpensive rotors while these brakes are still fitted.



I weighed the new rotors at 16.4 pounds, but that is about right for a relatively small 11.6" front vented rotor. The rears are 11.4" in diameter. Not bad for this cars' weight, but the BBK we have in mind will have larger rotors with fixed calipers. More on that later.



The GLOC pads arrived the same day as the rotors, but we had ordered them about 10 days prior. Remember: GLOC has 8 compounds for every pad shape (1000+) and cannot stock every compound for every pad option out there. We should have ordered them sooner. Jason and I discussed the use of this car on these brakes and we chose their R10 front and R8 rear compounds, which we will use on the car for street, autocross and track use.

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We chose this pair of compounds from this list: GS1 (street) -> R6 (autocross) -> R8 (light track use) -> R10 (track pad) -> R12 (track pad) - R14 (an endurance pad!) -> R16 (aggressive track pad) R18 (super aggressive track pad). If Amy were daily driving this car a lot we would swap to the GS-1 pads for street use then perhaps go to a more aggressive R12/R10 split, or R6 for autocross.

I know how to "switch on" a track pad for autocross use (drag the brakes to the line to warm them up), and the amount of street use will be manageable - Amy can deal with some dust and noise. Normally we would swap on stainless braided Teflon lined DOT brake flex lines, but we will do that at another time.

THE 86 CHASSIS : PART SUBARU GD + PART SUBARU GR

Just a little history lesson here, which many of you reading likely already know: The 1st gen (GT86) and 2nd gen (GR86) RWD 86 coupe is derived from two AWD Subaru Impreza generations. The front suspension comes from the second generation 2000-2007 "GD" Impreza, shown below (but the 86's front strut is considerably shorter).



The GD Impreza (2nd generation) was a somewhat crude chassis that used McPherson struts both front AND rear. We did a lot of development on these cars in the middle 2000s when we were the main importer for AST suspension. We developed strut body lengths, camber plates (both front and rear), and did a lot of autocross and track testing in these. The best part about these were the relatively low weight, AWD, and turbocharged power. We enjoyed competing in a number of these in that decade, but the frailties of the EJ25 engine kept us from lingering with this platform ourselves for too long.



The GR Impreza (3rd generation) was 2007-2014, and it included a big upgrade to the rear suspension - a multi-link rear, no longer a strut - which itself was a carryover from other Subaru models (Subaru Legacy). Much of the GR still is used mostly unchanged today in later generation models. This was a much better handling Impreza, but they started getting bigger and heavier and have only gotten bigger and heavier since. The EJ25 still has the same failure modes in these cars, which is sadly somewhat normal for turbocharged engines.



The 1st and 2nd gen 86 models are built from these two Impreza suspensions - the 86 has the same strut tower opening, bolt circle, and orientation as the GD Subaru Impreza. The 86's rear multi-link is from the GR. The first gen GT86 (2013-2021) and 2nd gen GR86 (2022-up) are almost identical when it comes to the suspension, and the struts and shocks we use for one work on both.

We developed the MCS dampers for the 86 chassis and had the first Street Touring prepped 86 in the nation, back in early 2013. Without the complexity and weight of the AWD and without a turbo these are considerably lighter, less fragile, and better handling cars than any Impreza. There, I said it!

ADDING VORSHLAG CAMBER PLATES

We came up with a camber plate for the 86 in August of 2012 - because our GD camber plate fit that chassis perfectly. It adds about 2.5 deg of inboard camber movement and +1.0 deg of fixed positive caster addition. We had an OEM upper spring perch solution that we used on my employee Matt's 2013 BRZ (below) but it raised the ride height just enough to matter, and it wasn't quite ready for production at that time. We needed a shorter "stack-up" height solution for the camber plate and spring - that we would develop in early 2016 for some then new BMW chassis.



Later in 2016, after we bought a 2013 FRS, we wanted to take another look at the "stock spring" camber plate option for the 86 chassis. Using the solution we developed for the F-chassis BMWs we came up with a way to package the top mount and spring perch with a proper radial bearing - without having to stick the camber plate on TOP of the strut tower, which causes other issues.



So here we are, in 2022, with a set of MCS coilover dampers sitting in the shop, ready to go onto our 2023 BRZ. But instead of jumping ahead to coilovers, or testing just brake pads at Track Test #3 - pads themselves honestly won't lower lap times on single lap stints all that much - we felt it was the right time to add Vorshlag camber plates to the '23 BRZ at this time. We saw how much JUST this change was worth on the 2020 GT86 at ECR (3 seconds) and wanted to test this on our 2nd gen at our normal test track, MSR Cresson's 1.7 mile CCW course. This is a normally 90 sec course, which matches many smaller tracks in the country.



We brought the car in after the ECR track event and got to work removing the front struts (when doing the pad upgrade above). The strut assembly is removed and placed into a floor mounted spring compressor - makes it so much easier to remove the stock top mount this way.



Then the GD/86 camber plates were built with our unique 86 upper spring perch option and installed onto the factory struts. The two struts are shown side by side, but our solution doesn't raise or lower the ride height from stock. Which is important - nobody wants to raise their ride height when getting camber plates!



Not satisfied with the 2.5 deg of additional camber we would see, I jumped in to add another degree of camber travel by using a "crash bolt". There are many strut cars like the 86 that do not have ANY factory camber adjustment, but they often have a TSB (technical service bulletin) to show shops how to use an eccentric or smaller bolt in one of the holes of the strut-to-spindle interface (see above left). The GR86 even has an enlarged upper hole just for this purpose (see above right).




Instead of looking for the eccentric bolt that is normally used, I found an M14-1.5 x 70mm bolt we had in stock and swapped out the stepped bolt in the upper hole, which has a larger diameter of 16mm. With the two M14 bolts in place we can "kick" the strut inboard to get more negative camber. Now, this doesn't come without compromise - the smaller bolt isn't able to be "fine tuned" to dial in camber this way, and it also removes inboard wheel room, but we are sticking with small-ish 18x7.5" stock wheels and 225mm tires for now. And any additional camber will only help tire wear on track.



This car in stock form (above left) had essentially ZERO camber up front. As such, it had some noticeable understeer in track Tests #1 and #2. With the camber plates and M14 upper bolt added (above right) we got a measured -3.5 deg of front camber, which is pretty amazing. That's about as much as you want to run on a street car, and is as perfect as you could want to have. My only regret here was not having the rear camber adjusted to match the front, which needs to be done on an alignment rack with a multi-link rear like these car have.



Adding camber plates is one of the first things track junkies do to their 86, either 1st or 2nd gen - and of course we recommend proper track brake pads and fluid also! Doug made some "23" door numbers on his plotter and Amy got those applied. This would have been a fine time to go to the track, but the weather wasn't cooperating and we had to wait a full 10 days after the Dec 4th event event to get to our next track test.

LAP TIME COMPARISON

Keeping with the tradition of this thread, let's add some more data and one more track into the mix. First up is our normal test track, MSR Cresson, which has not changed in layout in over 20 years. I can run this 1.7 mile CCW course literally every week if I want, on member days.

MSR Cresson 1.7 CCW

• https://youtu.be/Cs6AF436ykE - 1:31.90, baseline stock - 2013 Scion FRS Test #1
• https://youtu.be/_I4ltM6plFQ - 1:29.630, with camber and front brake upgrade, FRS Test #2
• https://youtu.be/Bn-B3CfBKps - 1:28.638, stock 215mm Michelins, '23 BRZ Track Test #1
• https://youtu.be/_NynP6vt4Yg - 1:28.889, Whiteline/AST coilovers and bars, FRS Test #3
• https://youtu.be/CU72_RGfC2Y - 1:28.565, retest above setup, FRS Track Test #4
• https://youtu.be/Zo6y6tD8nQQ - 1:26.376, 225mm Falken RT-660, '23 BRZ Track Test #2
• https://youtu.be/SUCBbM3v6Po - 1:25.978, with 315mm Rival-S tires, FRS Test #2

ECR 2.7 CCW

• https://youtu.be/VixGegVZQjQ - 2:22.987, stock 2020 GT86 with 245mm Hankook RS-4, Equalizer Attempt #1
• https://youtu.be/_-eGk3bP258 - 2:19.771, 2020 GT86 w/ camber plates, 245mm RS-4, Equalizer Attempt #2
• https://youtu.be/RWEP7H0iHno - 2:16.451, 225mm Falken RT-660, '23 BRZ Baseline ECR Test #1

While a bit more of a challenge to run, the ECR 2.7 mile CCW course is the most common and we will be competing here in the next year and beyond. We will keep taking these data logged track videos at both of these track layouts, and will post them in decreasing lap time order this Lap Time Comparison section, with any recent tests in bold. As you can see, the 2nd gen 86 is significantly faster on track in equal prep levels than the 1st gen. Its hard to ignore +50 hp.

WHAT'S NEXT?

We have already performed Track Test #3 (pads and camber), where I got to drive back-to-back in our 2023 BRZ on camber plates and brake pads then make laps in Jon's 2022 BRZ on MCS coilovers, pads, rear camber arms, header and exhaust. We have a lot more in store for our 2023 BRZ and the 2013 FRS will come back onto our shop schedule very soon- the engine for that is gonna be WILD.



We have built a slick RAM phone + AiM data logger holder for our 2023 BRZ, then added the MCS remote reservoir double adjustable coilovers, spacers, wheels and tires. But this entry is running long and it seems to be a good stopping point, so I will show more of this next time. Tune in here for more updates to our 1st and 2nd gen 86 cars.

Thanks for reading!

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Project update for May 16th, 2023: The start of 2023 only ratcheted up our business volume, so after nearly 4.5 months since my last update, today I am trying to catch up to the progress on our 2nd gen 86 chassis. I made a good dent and got this build thread caught up to early April 2023 with the many parts changes, track tests, Time Trials, and autocrosses we have run.



We tackled a number of major suspension upgrades on the '23 BRZ (including MCS remote doubles, Whiteline bushings and bars, RacerX rear arms and more), a fixed back racing seat / harness upgrade in Jon Miller's '22 BRZ (and we are doing the same to our '23 soon!), and even two new wheel and tire packages. We had a gap there of about 10 weeks with no driving on our car, waiting for control arms, but we stayed busy the entire time working on other aspects of this build.



My personal 2015 Mustang (below) had a bit of a hiccup with the 383" LS engine we had originally slated for Phase I of that car, and we "borrowed" the HPR built 454" LS7 slated for Amy's 2013 FRS. It is a "temporary loan" and we plan to get her V8 swapped 1st gen 86 back in the shop soon, but for now you can read about the exploits of "Amy's Engine" in my S550 Mustang in this thread. That engine is a little nuts and we might tone things down a little for Amy's FRS, depending on how this 7.4L engine dynos (very soon).



That's the last mention of the Mustang build here, and we have lots of 86 content to cover this time, so let's get started where we left off: mid December 2022.

RAM MOUNT FOR PHONE + AIM SOLO + CATALYST

If you have followed any of our build threads over the years you will note that I am a bit of a fanatic about adding a RAM base, arm, and 3-axis phone holder to every vehicle we own, both street car and track vehicle. This is to hold our large form factor iPhones - which keep them in view for cars without an Apple CarPlay / phone mirroring LCD screen, which makes the cars much safer for street use with phones and SAT NAV. These can also be quickly swapped out to hold an AiM SOLO, video camera, or Garmin Catalyst.



When there is a "no drill" metal bracket available for a car from PanaVise we will immediately buy that and install. They tend to mount between interior panels to some fixed mounting holes in the dash, often around the radio. But PanaVise has nothing for the 86, so we had to mimic their design and make something of our own to mount the round RAM base and 1" ball.



Brad and I looked at the dash structure after he pulled the dash partially apart Dec 12th 2022. We couldn't find any structure to mount to and slip this bracket around without cutting some holes. There is a portion of the dash cover that sits above the glove box door - and looks easily replaceable. So we agreed to mount to the left most side of that where it comes next to the radio (see above right pic and circle). This small section sticks out past the surface of the radio/LCD screen and gave us enough room to bolt a bracket to.



Now this bracket needs to be rigid and thin, so steel plate was the right material here. Brad started with a cardboard template that mirrored the face of this plastic panel and included a circle for the base of the RAM mount. That was cut out in steel and two angles bent to match the face of the dash as well as to move the RAM mount away from the radio, at about a30 deg angle.



Brad then drilled mounting holes for both the bracket and RAM mount, mating holes in this plastic panel, then added some nuts and bolts to mount the bracket. The nuts are hidden behind this panel and it can be removed with the bracket and RAM mount attached. That gave us the 1" ball, then some RAM mounting arms gave us the distance for the various device mounts.



Amy has been driving the BRZ to most events and we change to her race tires there, so the phone mount is used on those transits. Then at events we add the AiM Solo mount or (after April 2023) the new Catalyst mounting bracket.



After using it the Garmin Catalyst is a GREAT investment for any track driver. We sprung a little extra for this RAM catalyst cage mount, which holds it into a RAM mount better than the magnetic mount it comes with, and it can still be quickly removed for track-side analysis. Takes seconds to swap the Catalyst mount out for the RAM phone holder, so this little mounting solution is getting used a lot.

TRACK TEST #3 - MSR-C 1.7 CCW - DEC 15, 2022

A few days after the phone / AiM lap timer mount, and with fresh G-LOC pads and camber (from the OEM spring style Vorshlag camber plates + "crash bolts") I headed out to MSR Cresson once again on a member day, so see if we can improve on the times from Track test #2 (1:26.376), which was stock with the same 225mm Falken RT-660s that I drove out to the track on this day.



Jon Miller joined me in his MCS equipped 2022 BRZ on some 245mm Hankook RS4 tires he daily drives on. First session was on a green track (rained earlier in the week) with lots of traffic, and pretty cold. I ran a 1:25.7 on the little RT660s and Jon a 1:24 on his wider RS4s. With the mega front camber in our '23 the front grip is GREAT but rear grip did not improve - so it's a bit loose. After that session I came in and realized I had the pressures too high, so I tweaked them to try to improve neutrality.



It warmed up in a later session and I shaved time off to a best of 1:25.1 best lap. I came in during that second session and Jon and I swapped cars in the hot pits. Driving his car on MCS dampers with added power was enlightening, and I had to shift sooner and use 5th gear in a couple of spots. He and I both had hot tires and traffic in those handful of laps, and didn't improve on each others' times, but I could tell that with proper dampers and spring rates the BRZ was going to be a lot faster - and the added power won't hurt, either!



Almost cracked a 1:24, but had to settle for that 1:25.174 best. This was a little sketchy with ALL the front camber but only stock rear camber and toe - it wanted to turn in a little "too well" (it was loose). A bit of negative camber dialed in out back would have settled down the rear and improved both stability and track times. It was still a great improvement over bone stock test #1 (3.5 sec) and even from test #2 (1.2 sec). The front tire wear after 25 laps looked great - camber is a real tire saver! I almost ran the BRZ out of fuel before I gave it to Jon, and it hiccuped with a low fuel starvation before he could get a clean lap, but we made it to the gas pump and called it a day.



As you can see, the car hasn't racked up 800 miles yet. This current the setup is what I would consider the bare minimum track prep on these cars (if your class allows): real track worthy brake pads + DOT4 brake fluid, proper camber plates up front, and some slightly better rubber than the OEM stuff.

WEIGHT CHECK - DEC 15, 2022

After driving it back from Track Test #3, I arranged to get it back into the shop with minimal fuel, for our first "low fuel weight" for the 2023 BRZ.


The stock "full of fuel + trunk junk" weight on this 2023 BRZ Premium was 2805 lbs (how we picked it up from dealer). Today with stock sized 225mm Falkens, camber plates, and "low fuel + no trunk junk" = 2761 lbs (how I tracked it)



We immediately began on the MCS RR2 remote reservoir double coilover install. These have been here since before the car arrived! Days before I had the 255/40R17 Yokohama A052 tires and Enkei TFR 17x9" ET45 wheels mounted and balanced.

SCCA TT CLASS + SECONDARY COMPETITION PLANS FOR '23 BRZ

If you have read my forum posts for the past 25 years you will have noticed that I have increasingly moved away from SCCA autocrossing to Time Trial events to showcase both our products as well as to get my "competition" thrills. NASA Time Trial was my main competitive outlet from 2006 through 2019, but also Optima series events, plus a handful of others. In the last two seasons I ran in NASA Time Trial in my 2018 Mustang (2018-19), we tested out some theories with 200TW street tires vs Hoosiers - and I learned many things.



First, NASA TT has pretty much turned into a one tire class - HOOSIER. Whether R7 or A7, this is what it took to win. When I first started with NASA TT in 2006 there were lots of tires that were used to win, from Toyo to hot street tires. But as time progressed it was all swept away and Hoosiers took the lead, and we were part of the "tire wars" that made this happen between 2012-on. There was also a jump in tire costs during the Pandemic, with some Hoosiers going up in price $100 each or more.



Second, the delta between the modern (2020+) 200TW tire and a Hoosier R7 or A7 isn't as big as I thought it was, but it is still significant. NASA tried in 2022 to make some parity with two levels of power-to-weight bonuses to make street tires and the painfully uncompetitive Toyo/Nitto family of tires equal in lap times to cars using Hoosiers. I think it is noble but futile gesture that will only bring chaos and expense to racers (who need to prep for and test both setups at differing tracks). With a lot of events in SCCA Time Trial in 2022 in our C6 on 200TW tires, we noticed that even the "latest" 200TW tires still show a marked increase in tire life over R7 and especially A7 Hoosiers.



There are some other stark differences - NASA allows for significant aero changes in all classes, and you also have to try to meet a "power-to-weight" ratio limit for each class. This generally drives competitors to remove all street going equipment (window glass, interior, air con, emissions equipment) to try to meet a target weight, then tackle power mods to meet the power number, and a lot of time and money is spent chasing the class ratio limit. This means that actual full interior street cars are rarely on the podium at NASA TT events.



While I ran almost exclusively NASA TT for several years, the SCCA TT rules makers had been busy in what I felt were poorly setup classes and categories in their Time Trial series. They adopted the popular theory that Global Time Attack, Grid Life, and Redline Time Attack pushed for years - focus the categories of classes on the tires, and bias the classes towards 200TW rubber. I even wrote in with what I felt were some obvious tweaks to some rules - and they adopted these changes, refreshingly quickly.



SCCA TT now has 4 tiers of classes, starting in the 1st tier where you can't do almost anything (Street) but camber and tires, to the 2nd tier where you can do a good bit of bolt on suspension and tiny power mods (Tuner), then another tier that allows more power mods and aero (Max) - but all 3 are on 200TW tires. Only in tier 4 - Unlimited classes - are Hoosiers even allowed. This makes for a lot more parity between classes, as almost nobody has Hoosiers or even real aero across the SCCA TT field.



This move to classing that is almost completely on 200TWW tires, and ranks classes based on tire width within that category, seems to take a big chunk of the budget sting away from Hoosier clad racers. After 2 years of Time Trial events exclusively on 200TW tires I feel like that maybe they are onto something. We decided early on that we will build Amy's '23 BRZ towards the SCCA TT Tuner category, class T3. This Time Trial class will be the primary class, but will also crossover to SCCA autocross Street Touring class STR as a secondary, like we ran in Jon's '22 BRZ last year.




I had a lot of fun running the 2022 season in SCCA Time Trial T2 class in our 2006 Corvette, and both Amy and I are building our cars around SCCA TT classes for 2023. We will still run a few NASA events - mostly because we want to see my friends in NASA. At those events we will run the BRZ in NASA TT4 class - where it will be hopelessly outclassed because we won't be gutting the car, adding aero, or running Hoosiers.



So for 2023 at least we will instead focus on the suspension and other upgrades to this car and shoot for these two SCCA classes in a true "multi-purpose" street / autocross / time trial car, with NASA TT4 as the backup class we will never build to the limit of.



Within the same SCCA TT "Tuner" category that I ran the Corvette last year (T2), the BRZ ends up in the "T3" class. There are some strong chassis that will make for real challenges within the T3 class, which I have circled above. But luckily, with the 3 events we have run the BRZ in T3 in late 2022 already, it has held its own. We still have narrow tires on the car for T3 class (255mm now vs 285mm T3 class limit) but we have some plans to address that, which you will see later in this post!

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TRACK TOW HOOK - MULTIPLE ITERATIONS

Most of you reading this already know that most track event orgs strongly advise or even require you to have a "trackside extraction hooks" on both ends of your car. This helps the track workers pull your car into the pits or onto a trailer if it runs out of fuel or has some other mechanical problem that keeps you from moving under your own power.



The factory Subaru tow hook is an all steel part that can be installed after you remove a small plastic cover at each end. We utilized this stock hook for our first few events, and even used it to winch the car into and out of the trailer. I just hoped that I never needed a hook on the back if there was some situation where the front wasn't accessible. We looked for an aftermarket solution to get tow hooks for both ends, and accidentally ordered this garbage below from Perrin.



DO NOT USE THE PERRIN "SHOW HOOKS"! As we later found, their own website says these are for car show use only, and shouldn't be used to actually tow the car. They are 100% aluminum (even the threaded portions!) and like aluminum lug nuts, are NOT used by racers with any technical knowledge. These can and will break EASILY if you yank on them with a tow vehicle or winch cable. As soon as I picked one up, we immediately asked for an return, which was honored.



Conversely, these all STEEL tow hooks from Cusco are quite well made and not much more expensive. When there is something like this on the market there is no NEED for the fake parts that Perrin peddles. These come in two lengths (to fit front or back) and work well on both 1st and 2nd gen 86 models.



There is just a small plastic panel that you remove (without the need for tools) to put these Cusco hooks in the factory threaded holes. A pair of these or something similar should be on EVERY TRACKED 86.



Now for when we tow the 86 we can utilize the front tow hook to winch the car in, and there are two factory "tie down" hooks on the chassis - which are likely used for sea transits - that work great for trailer straps, too. But out back we had no good options... so we made some.



We make these 1/4" thick steel CNC cut tie down hooks for several cars and will have these as an option for the rear of an 86. These go under the heads of the massive bolts that attach the rear subframe to the chassis. Meaty, reinforced, strong mount. These can then be hooked onto to hold the rear of the chassis down.



We have towed this way many times since we purchased the car and will no longer be using "through the wheels" straps, as doing that caused a rear alignment eccentric to slip (more on that below). We also added the Cusco throttle pedal extension, shown above right, which was worth every penny. If you have trouble doing a heel-toe blip shift with your shoes, try out one of these beauties.

MAJOR SUSPENSION UPGRADES - MCS RR2, SWAYBARS & MORE

In late December we made time in the hectic shop schedule to tackle the first big suspension changes beyond just the camber plates from before. Before we tackle the wider 9" wheel and 255mm tire upgrade, we needed to get the MCS dampers on and conduct a 4th track test using our "control" set of tires, the 225mm RT-660s. It was time to install the MCS remote doubles, Whiteline bars and adjustable lower rear control arms.



This was started immediately after track test #3, with the goal to get back out to the track a week later. We had these dampers on hand for nearly 2 months and I was chomping at the bit to get them installed!



The front struts went on fairly quickly. Normally these ship with an offset slug (see above right) and that gives you a "decent" camber setting set up outboard, but inboard it makes for OBSCENE camber (minimum negative on his setup as -4.6 deg). We noted this on Jon' Miller's 2022 BRZ MCS install, so we ordered the centered slugs for our car (and his). This takes up the slop in the slotted upper strut bracket hole, instead of needing an eccentric bolt.



The rear dampers went in without any fuss, and then it was time to install the remote reservoirs. Now we can typically route the hoses under the front frame rail on the front struts, but on the rear dampers we often cut a hole in the trunk area to route the hoses and reservoirs through. BUT I leanred after posting these pics that some racers have found that these can be passed through the rear "vent panels" inside the trunk. So just know that you DO NOT have to cut the trunk floor up like we did below!



Live and learn, right? Oh well, we usually use a 2.5" dia hole saw and 2-piece Seals-It grommet with a 3/8" hole to seal around the hose. The grommet is unbolted from the car and the entire reservoir can pass through without the need to depressurize the nitrogen charge, disconnect a hose, add fluid or any of that mess.



Once the dampers were all mounted it was time to make reservoir mounting brackets. Now we sell these simple MCS brackets that can be riveted / bolted to flat metal or tubing, then zip-tied to the reservoirs. But I like to make our reservoir brackets for any car we build in the shop, and these aluminum brackets were made the way we have done them many times. One piece is cut out that runs the length of the reservoir, then rolled through the sheet rollers to match the curve of the reservoirs. Then those were welded to some flat brackets that then were bolted to the chassis.



Up front the brackets bolt to the strut tower brace studs, and put the Compression adjuster on the remotes right next to the Rebound knobs on top of the struts. Out back we keep the reservoirs just inside the top of the trunk area for easy access while still giving full use of the trunk. Needlessly fancy? Sure it is, but when you spend this much on dampers another few hours to make fancy brackets isn't much extra.



Virtually every build we do in the shop gets adjustable swaybars both front and rear. Due to some supply chain issues we went with a relatively new (to us) brand with this Hotchkis kit. These tubular bars include a 25.4mm diameter 2-way adjustable front and 19mm dia 4-way adjustable blade style rear. They came with rear end links but we utilized our 2" shortened Whiteline adjustable front endlinks for the front struts.



We had to wait a few days but these Whiteline adjustable lower rear arms finally arrived. We wanted these to be able to adjust rear camber, which as we saw in Track Test #3, we had more front camber than the rear could keep up with. These Whiteline arms are made for the 1st gen 86, and as such the mounting holes for the rear dampers are in the WRONG PLACE. This isn't a big deal (a slight change to motion ratio / wheel spring rate) but for Rules Weenies it is an easy protest.



To fix this rules issue, Jason and I measured the stock 2nd gen arms and transferred the hole placement to the Whiteline 1st gen arms. That is literally all you have to do to make these "legal" for the 2nd gen. An affordable rear adjustable lower arm kit which we sell for both 1st and 2nd gen cars. They also have their stiffer elastomer lower bushings for the inboard side already installed.



With these Whiteline arms in place, Brad adjusted them for a decent chunk of negative camber for the first time. We had the front camber set to -4.6 deg and -3.5 deg out back, to start with. YES THIS IS A LOT OF CAMBER but we do a lot of testing and after 20 years running Vorshlag and 34 years of track and autocross competition I have a good idea of what a particular car / tire needs.



There were a few other small details that were specific to the MCS remotes, but Brad got all of that sorted and the alignment dialed in. We couldn't get into the schedule of our normal alignment shop for a "Laser" alignment, so we used our SmartCamber tools and toe plates.



We did the alignments with the new 17x9" Enkei wheels and the 255mm Yokohama A052s - and boy, I *REALLY* wanted to do track test #4 like this. But that wouldn't show all of you a good A-B test of the MCS dampers (minimizing variables).



So the 225mm RT-60 control tires from Tests #2 and #3 went back on. These later became our "transit" tires after the A052s became our main track tire. The BRZ was then corner balanced with driver weight (the ~175 pounds of ballast we use) but the image below shown both with (2955 lbs) and without driver ballast (2779 lbs).



This round of suspension work was wrapped up on December 28th and we loaded the BRZ into the trailer for Track Test #4 the next day.

TRACK TEST #4 - DEC 29, 2022



This was a chaotic day with some iffy weather, but we had a lot of fun. Amy came with me and we both drove the BRZ, we brought the C6 Corvette to verify some brake cooling changes (Track Test #12 for that car), and then Scottish Joe let me take his C8 out for some laps. Let's dig into the data and videos!



For our 2023 Subaru BRZ we both ran the car over a total of 37 laps in 4 sessions, wet in the morning and dry after lunch. We ran the same 225mm Falken RT-660 tires, Vorshlag camber plates and G-LOC R10/R8 brake pads and Motul RBF600 fluid from test #3 - but now we have added MCS RR2 remote double adjustable coilovers with 450/500 spring rates, the Hotchkis swaybars, and a Whiteline rear lower adjustable arm. Alignment was set with -4 deg front / -3 deg rear camber, zero front and 3/16" rear toe in.



Amy went out with me right seat coaching with radios for a long 10 lap stint in the wet, then I drove the C6 in the wet for another 10 laps. The rain was moving out so we took a lunch break and came back to a green but dry track. Not ideal conditions to be sure, but we were here so we took more laps.



After it dried out I took a 6 lap stint in the BRZ chasing a new Personal Best in this little car, and got it on lap 3. The RT-660s do take a few laps to come up to optimum heat and grip levels, and the 1:23.498 lap is shown below.



Now this video shows a bit of a learning curve for me - like Jon's car the speeds are now high enough to need 5th gear on the main straight, and I botched a 1:22.9 lap hitting the rev limiter at the end of the straight into Little Bend. In a later lap I botched a 1:23.0 lap in traffic, then the rear tires got greasy so I came in. I felt guilty and really wanted Amy to get as much seat time as she could that day, and I also needed to get laps in the C6 and C8...



I had my hands full testing the C6 Corvette's brakes in another long dry stint, then in Joe's C8 Corvette in my first laps in this chassis. Wow the MagRide dampers are just junk at the limit in this car, but that DCT is amazing and I wish we had that transmission option in EVERY car. I struggled a bit with traffic in the C6, also missing a new Personal Best in that car (1:19/6) with a predicted 1:19.3 and 1:19.5, which I missed from traffic and driving mistakes.

My goal here was to find 2 seconds from Track Test #3 (1:25.174), and if I had locked down the 1:22.9 or 1:23.0 predicted laps that would have happened. Still, the new PB was a solid 5.14 seconds quicker than the Baseline Stock Lap in Track Test #1. We will be adding more tire width in the coming weeks and will head back for at test 5 looking for more time! Most importantly, after my short stint in the BRZ, Amy took two more full stints in the car - getting some much needed seat time. She didn't get much track driving done in the last few years and is playing catch up.

ECUTEK TUNE AT DOTSON TUNING

In Late December Stephen joined us as our Operations Manager at Vorshlag - and his daily driver is the blue 2023 BRZ below. One day when Jon Miller came by I was loading up the BRZ to take to the tuner, and we had a quick "car show" at the shop of 2nd gens. There are also two 1st gens in the shop, with Amy's 2013 and our CNC operator Steven.



I dropped our red '23 BRZ off at Dotson Tuning in Ft Worth on January 10th, 2023. I've known the owner / tuner Calvin Dotson for a while, as he tuned our 2008 EVO X MR when he worked at COBB. He has his own place now, next door to Kraken Motorsports. And as we unloaded the BRZ I realized that the eccentrics on the Whiteline lower rear arms had slipped - big time. This was before I had the rear tie down hooks, and was towing with straps run through the rear wheels. The right rear wheel had MASSIVE toe out as a result, but the folks at Kraken aligned it well enough to get it on the dyno at Dotson.



Then Calvin was able to make a baseline pull on his Mustang dyno, then used the newly released EcuTek tuning to tweak the programming slightly. The peak numbers didn't change but some area under the curve improved, and he was also able to add a SOFT REV LIMITER at 7400 rpms. This way if we ever hit the rev limiter, it doesn't have that violent and hard set "fuel cut", which is what upset my best lap at Track Test #4.

We have used this tune for several months now and the rev limit is perfect, and you barely know you hit it - the car just stops accelerating. How it works is the drive-by-wire throttle blade just starts to close slowly between 7200-7400, so you can "sit on the limiter" for a while and nothing bad happens. No violent shutter or hard fuel cut. REALLY helpful on track and autocross! We will head back to Dotson as we make exhaust and cold air intake changes to allow Calvin to unlock the extra power in the tune.

MORE CAMBER & BUSHING CHANGES

A couple of weeks later (1/23/23) I had picked up the BRZ from Dotson and unloaded it from the trailer, then brought it straight into the shop for some wheel measuring. But as I drove it around the parking lot it was "crabbing" sideways a lot, and even visually the rear alignment looked wonky. Brad and I checked the rear toe.



Somehow the left rear was VERY toed out. Either the techs didn't tighten this eccentric during the alignment, it wasn't set right, or it somehow slipped again when I towed it back (this time I strapped around the subframe - it WASN'T from the tie down straps). We had run 37 laps with these lower arms on the car in Track Test #4 and they didn't move, so it was a real mystery.



Fearing another $200 alignment every time we drive the car, it was time to try something different here. We also had challenges finding a 10" wide wheel for this car that would fit with the existing rear track width. This WL arm pushes the bottom of the tire out to get camber, but we knew of an upper arm that pulled the top of the tire in, to get to the same camber - but with a different track width and potential wheel offset.

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RACERX UPPER REAR CONTROL ARMS

We would normally go straight to SPL Parts and get their adjustable arms, but they don't make the upper arm for an 86, plus their arms are all bushed with metal sphericals - which makes for a class rules problem on our car. We got a tip from Jon Miller that these RacerX arms were the only adjustable upper arm offering out there for the 2nd gen that are SCCA Tuner class legal, as they came with poly upper bushings (the spherical ball joint is allowed).



The class allows "one adjustment camber method" per axle, so out back we could trade the Whiteline lower arms for RacerX upper arms and be legal - and slightly narrow the rear track, to make our 10" wide wheel search work better (more on this next time). We ordered these RacerX upper arms (in their -1 to -4 deg range), but also their oil catch can kit and battery hold down kit.



We actually ordered this stuff in early January (right after dropping the car off at Dotson, then the eccentrics FIRST slipped) and the parts arrived more than 2 months later. The BRZ sat undriveable and sitting in our barn for two months. We missed a lot of events in that time period, but such are the sufferings of "supply chain" woes.



The day the parts arrived we brought the BRZ into the shop and Brad began the upper rear arm swap. He removed the stock uppers and we weighed them along with the lighter / tubular / fabricated RacerX bits. Jason and I both noted that these single axis poly bushings needed a grease zerk added - to prevent squeaks and potential bushing "sticktion" - so Brad got to work on that lengthy extra step.



It is always baffling when companies sell control arms with poly bushings and DON'T add these grease zerks, but we're used to it. This extra work would add a bit to the fabrication and ultimately cost of the parts. And frankly, most people don't do any proper greasing or suspension maintenance anyway. Still, we do this maintenance, so we always go to this solution. I just hate sticky and squeaky bushings! It never helps handling, that's for sure. Brad checked for access and marked the zerk spots then drilled and tapped them for 1/4"-28 threaded, 90 deg angled grease zerks.



The 2-piece polyurethane bushing shells were made to touch internally, which isn't great - now we need to add a pathway for the grease to travel to the inner steel sleeve, which Brad did in the above steps by drilling a hole through the two bushings butted together. These cylindrical cuts also help "key" the bushings in place when the zerks are threaded in, ensuring a pathway for the injected grease to get to that inner steel sleeve.



With these zerks and bushings added to the RacerX arms, they were ready to be installed. Just know that adjustments of the outer rod ends makes fine tuning camber side-to-side "difficult".



To adjust camber the alignment tech needs to UNBOLT the outer spherical (with a stud you can slip in and out, it essentially becomes a rod end), then make 180 degree turns to adjust camber - each half rotation changes camber "more than a little bit". Brad got these pretty close (close to -3.5 deg on both sides) before we went looking for an alignment shop with an opening in their schedule...

REAR LOWER CONTROL ARM BUSHINGS

As the RacerX upper arms went in, we had to remove the Whiteline adjustable lower arms. Again, mostly for class reasons, which only allows one camber adjustment per axle, and the upper arms were it. But now we'd lose those poly bushings that were in the WL lower arms, compared to the stock arms going back on.



Legally we could still add poly bushings in the OEM lower arms, so that's what we did here. We ordered a Whiteline bushing kit for these inboard lower arm locations and Brad got the old bushings out of the stock arms. After we installed and tested all of these, we added these items are on our website.



He had to make a tool to press the stock one-piece rubber bushing out, but with some tubing drops and a little lathe work he had the press tool that worked. The sloppy stock rubber bushing is softer but there is also a lot of "void" (ie: air) in that design. The new Whiteline "elastomer" 2-piece bushing will help remove some deflection under lateral load (they don't use the word "polyurethane", but it essentially is made from that).



With the new Whiteline bushings in place Brad also drilled / tapped / added grease zerks to keep them lubricated, again for squeak free and sticktion free function for many years.



The bushing swap on the OEM lower arms wrapped up the bushing & camber upgrades out back. Now with proper coilover dampers, swaybars, bushings, and proper camber adjustments, we can likely leave this end of the suspension alone for a bit.

FRONT CONTROL ARM BUSHING UPGRADES

This was one of those "while we are at it" scope creep jobs, but we had always planned to change all of the sloppy rubber bushings for polyurethane. The front lower control arms have two bushings but they work, but oriented in axis 90 deg apart.



Let's look at the forward bushing first, which is an unusual "off axis" bushing that has a lot of voids and slop, as it needs to pivot to allow suspension articulation. Polyurethane HATES to pivot, but this is a Whiteline "elastomer" 3-piece bushing also with a good bit of additional caster adjustment built in. You can rotate the bushing within the arm to change the caster position here, which we did to add maximum caster (along with our caster adding top mounts, it is now sitting at +8 deg!)



Above you can see the 3 Whiteline bushing pieces plus the center steel sleeve. Brad started this task by removing the arm, then pushing out the 1-piece rubber bushing - taking care to support the somewhat frail stamped steel arm.



The rotation of the offset center bushing was marked and matched to both sides, then pressed into place. Finally the extra upper and lower portions were installed to allow the entire assembly to pivot smoothly, and the center tubing section pressed into place. This bushing does NOT "rotate" so it did not get a grease zerk installed.



Next up on the lower front arm was the rear bushing, which DOES rotate like a traditional suspension bushing. This is a 2-piece design + steel sleeve, which DID have a gap between the two halves (proper). The grease zerk was drilled and tapped to squirt the grease between the two sections and feed the inner steel sleeve. The front arms were now rubber-free, and reinstalled - it was now time to tackle a persistent oil leak.

OIL LEAK - RTV REDO, OIL CHANGE, & CATCH CAN INSTALL

Now if you were reading along you would know that the FIRST thing we did on this 2023 BRZ was add the oil pan baffle and clean out the oil pickup. But the technician that did this work skimped a bit on the RTV and we had a decent oil leak at the back of the oil pan.



Now I will be the first to admit that the design of the FA24 oil pan interface is TERRIBLE and the back portion at the block is barely 1/8" wide, so you have to slather on the RTV back there or risk the leak we encountered. This wasn't a problem on the FA20, but Subaru being Subaru had to take a proven design and make it worse. Baffling.



This time Brad tackled the oil pan seal work and took extra care there. Once again the oil pickup tube was inspected and it was clear, so the pan and baffle were cleaned before re-applicaiton of the Great Stuff RTV. Instead of rushing this job, the sealant was allowed to set for an hour before going back together.



Since the oil pan was off obviously we did an oil change (after letting the RTV to set overnight), once again using Motul 8100 series 5W40 synthetic, which has worked well for us on this and many other street / track cars. The old oil looked perfect - no glitter or bad color.



Finally, the RacerX oil catch can kit was installed along with the RacerX battery hold down (above left). After using the oil catch can on track it DOES work, and after every track day the drain hose Brad added (above right) is used to release the captured oil with their 1/4 turn ball valve at the bottom of the tank.

ANOTHER (SEMI-FAILED) ALIGNMENT

We had made all of these suspension changes here and really needed to get a "laser" alignment before going to the track, so I printed off my "requests" and tried a new shop. Once again our main alignment shop we work with and trust was booked out for weeks. It did not go as smoothly at the new shop, but we got "some" numbers, even if they were in degrees / minutes / seconds, and the technicians themselves didn't trust the front camber numbers.



Oh well, it was "something" and we scheduled Track Test #5 with... the "big" 17x9" wheels and 2545mm Yokohama A052s.

TRACK TEST #5 - MARCH 23, 2023

After months of waiting, then parts arriving and being installed, then chasing an alignment shop, we finally had a good chance to test the BRZ for the 5th time at MSR Cresson. We had the rear camber set with arms that couldn't "slip" and the proper 17x9" wheels and 255mm tires on for the first time - which was supposed to be our autocross tire set, but we missed most of the early autocross events waiting on these dang arms.

Gallery: https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-...-test5-032323/



We loaded the car into the trailer and Amy once again joined me for this track test. We both had a much better time with the car than in test 4, where the rear end was too twitchy. It still wasn't perfect, and we have since gotten the car properly aligned and found some small issues they fixed, which made the car even easier to drive at the limit.



As you can see in the Lap List (above left) I went out first in a 7 lap stint right after the track went hot. In a rush to get the car out in this session I forgot to check shock settings and we had the full soft Street settings. The car felt weird and was a FULL SECOND slower than my next stint, after I set the knobs correctly. In the 2nd stint I set the new Personal Best for this car at a 1:22.730 on hot lap 1 - but the Yokohama A052 tires "fell off" after that. This is a proper "autocross" compound and doesn't deal with heat well, but it is FAST. You can see the lateral g spikes in the 1.4g range on the measures graphs (above right).



The car cornered pretty flat (especially for our modest 450/500 #/in spring rates) and the tires had excellent wear, even with "so much camber". We are only using what the tires ask for, and the tire wear, grip numbers, temperatures, and pictures of the car loaded in corners tells us we are in the right range.



Amy drove in two stints and actually took more laps than me, for once - which was the goal. With the car behaving more predictably she felt more comfortable and set her fastest laps in the BRZ that day as well. She used to run lap times in the same second as me in several previous cars, and would often out pace me in autocrosses, so we still have some work to do to get her sea legs back.



The in car YouTube video is linked in the picture above, as always, and it was a fairly OK run. I honestly felt like the 255mm A052 tires would have been worth more than a second over the 225mm Falkens, but it came down to tire heat and traffic. With some more experience with this setup, later on I got better on my "first hot lap" driving. At this point we are 5.9 seconds quicker than Track Test #1.

PRE-TRACK CHECK, WHEEL MEASURING, & CLASS DECALS

Later the same day, after we got back from Track Test #5, we unloaded the BRZ and brought it into the shop to check everything. We had a double header Time Trial weekend coming up a week later, with both SCCA and NASA TT events we would enter the BRZ into. This was also right after running the 255mm tires for the first time and I wanted to make sure we had no witness marks anywhere from tire rub (we did not). I also wanted to get the car in the air to measure for 10" wide wheels and 275mm tires.



With the 17x9" wheels and wider 255mm tires, and the RacerX rear arms with what we felt was a pretty good alignment - we could finally measure off of this setup for a 1" wider wheel and tire package. Nobody believed we could pull this off without cutting or pulling fenders, but I had faith.



While it was in I asked Brad to mount the battery powered AMB transponder. We had a quick release mount but it is made to mount to a flat surface, so Brad built this angled mount from some scrap Delrin we had in the CNC shop. It matches the angle of the lower grill, has a "cross" machined into the back to align with the grill, and mounts with some zip ties. That in turn can hold the transponder, and allow for it to be quickly removed and swapped to another car (which came in handy this next race weekend!).



Stephen's wife made some decals for both the C6 Corvette (which I would run for the first time in SCCA TT Max1) as well as some STR / T3 / TT4 decals for the BRZ, as this would be the first time competing in the 86 with something other than blue tape!



The night before I ran the NASA classing calcs and the 86 technically fit into TT5 class, but only just. The wider 275mm tires we had planned later in the season (our "T3" setup) would move the car into TT4 class with NASA, so we ran it in that class for the Sunday NASA TT. After this round of prep we swapped on the stock wheels, so Amy could drive it out to both events. Then loaded up the C6 (after a major round of work on that). The next morning we headed out to Motorsport Ranch 1st for their 1.7 CW event...

SCCA TT MSR 1.7 CW - APRIL 1, 2023

This was day 1 of a 2 day / 2 event weekend for us. We're trying to make ALL of the Texas Region SCCA Time Trial events (a series we sponsor) and this was their first event of the year, running at MSR on the 1.7 mile CW course (of their 8 events in 2023, each one is on a different track / configuration). We took the BRZ and C6, and swapped on the new 17x9" wheels and 255mm tires when we got there.

Gallery: https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-...MSR-CW-040123/



Amy had never driven this CW direction and I had only driven it a few times in the distant past. And as luck would have it, the C6 lost drive-by-wire throttle control immediately (tuning issue) so that car never made a lap (I was pretty disappointed, as this was to be the last time I ever drove this car on track - it was just painted and will be for sale soon).

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[Fair!]

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So after the first TT session that Amy drove the BRZ in, I also took it out in a different TT sessions twice (they have "Red" and "Green" TT sessions, split based on classes / speed). The times going CW are usually about 1 second slower than CCW, so we should have been in the 1:23 range. But the times not comparable when you are struggling to learn a new course! I was way off the pace in the 86.



Stan Whitney offered a co-drive in his 2022 GT500 to me in the last session - who himself was winning the Max1 class, while I was sitting in 4th with my lackluster BRZ times. Well this GT500 (having never driven one) fit my driving style very well - I went out and in 2 laps set the Max1 class winning time and scored maximum points for the season opener, just missing FTD by a couple of tenths. Of course the 2790 lbs BRZ handled much nicer than the 4100 pound GT500, but having 760 hp is a lot more fun than 240! I was FIVE seconds quicker in the 2 ton pony car with OEM dampers... #powermatters


I used my rented AMB transponder from the C6 on Stan's GT500, so the results wouldn't get too wonky. My best BRZ time in 2 sessions was 1:25.163, which would have been good enough for 2nd in T3 class (which Amy was running in) - so not a promising start to the season, but again, I was completely lost on the CW course. Amy placed 3rd in T4 in the BRZ, with a best of 1:28.981. We both have some work to do.

NASA TT ECR 2.7 CCW April 2, 2023

We brought the Corvette back to the shop Saturday evening and unloaded it from the trailer, swapped the "big" wheels onto the BRZ (she drove it back on the Flakens), then loaded that car up in the trailer for an early start Sunday morning at Eagles Canyon Raceway. NASA was running their 2 day race weekend and we entered for one day only. Amy and I both drove the '23 BRZ as a "Team Vorshlag" entry at this NASA TT event, which we ran on Sunday.

Gallery: https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-...27-CCW-040223/



I ran the BRZ in TT4 class and Amy ran it in HPDE4, to get more seat time in the car and at this track. We got the car annual teched (again, after doing it in December, but that was for 2022), checked in, went to the TT drivers meeting, then I had to head to grid.



NASA has finally followed the example of SCCA TT and Apex Lap Attack by also SPLITTING their large Time Trial group into two differing heats, which should go a LONG way towards removing the traffic problem we noted in the December 2022 event. This was a great idea, and since I was entered into TT4 I ended up in the "fast" TT group (TTU-TT4 in group 1, TT5-TT6 in group 2). Since I didn't run Saturday and had no times to grid off of, I had to start at the back. No worries - this is really a TT5 car with street tires, so I won't catch the back of the field? HAHAHAHA! - Yea, I'm never that lucky.



I backed way off on the out lap and built a big gap going into hot lap 1, but as you can see in the video above I had a Corvette spun off the track in front of me in Turn 2, so I had to lift and move around as he came back on track (lap 1 borked). Heading into lap 2, I quickly caught the TT4 cars, which were gutted TT4 race cars on race tires (lap 2 borked). I kept catching more and more traffic and eventually had a clear track on hot lap 5. LAP FIVE - which is "less than ideal" for A052 tires, but that proved to be my best lap of the day - as it got much warmer in Session 2 (where I gridded better but once again was stuck in traffic) and rained for sessions 3-4.



After doing that 2:11.0 lap (my AiM showed 2:10.8, but close enough) it moved me up the grid order a tick, but the traffic was still bad (I always wonder why people go so slowly on their first 1-3 laps?) and I couldn't get a clear track until lap 3, but by then the tires were smoking hot. My best time in session 2 wasn't even quicker than my 2nd best time in session 1.



Amy had a rough day and was way off the pace in both HPDE4 sessions she drove in - so much so that she kept pulling offline to let cars pass, and that led to some serious tire klag pickup when she was driving offline. The HPDE3-4 session she ran in was actually a mess with 50+ cars in those run groups, including some of the fastest TT and W2W race cars using it for practice sessions. That was less than ideal.

I was riding right seat with her in her 2nd session and the vibrations from rubber stuck to her tires was so bad we thought the car had a loose wheel or bad wheel bearing, and she came in after 2 laps. Turns out she wasn't driving fast enough to burn off the balled up rubber pickup, and when she'd go offline to let cars pass she would pick up more. Lesson learned - if you hear a wheel imbalance, DRIVE HARDER and burn that stuff off!



In the end, my best lap in the 1st TT session was quick enough for 21st out of 34 TT cars and 3rd out of 5 in TT4 class. HEAVY rain was rolling in right after lunch, so NASA made the rare call to award trophies before the last two sessions even happened (it was the right call - nobody even went out in the downpour). It was a fun if frustrating event, and in the future if we only run 1 day with NASA we will try to do that Saturday, so we're not stuck gridding at the back again. With the SCCA TT series as our primary event held the day before, though, we didn't have much choice.

LAP TIME COMPARISON

Let's add some more lap times and video links for the 2023 BRZ for both MSR-C 1.7 CCW and ECR 2.7 CCW.

MSR Cresson 1.7 CCW

• https://youtu.be/Cs6AF436ykE - 1:31.90, baseline stock - 2013 Scion FRS Test #1
• https://youtu.be/_I4ltM6plFQ - 1:29.630, with camber and front brake upgrade, FRS Test #2
• https://youtu.be/Bn-B3CfBKps -1:28.638, stock 215mm Michelins, '23 BRZ Track Test #1
• https://youtu.be/_NynP6vt4Yg - 1:28.889, Whiteline/AST coilovers and bars, FRS Test #3
• https://youtu.be/CU72_RGfC2Y - 1:28.565, retest above setup, FRS Track Test #4
• https://youtu.be/Zo6y6tD8nQQ - 1:26.376, 225mm Falken RT-660, '23 BRZ Track Test #2
• https://youtu.be/SUCBbM3v6Po - 1:25.978, with 315mm Rival-S tires, FRS Test #2
• https://youtu.be/sEL1fwtqf84 - 1:25.174, 225mm Falken RT-660 + camber, '23 BRZ Track Test #3
• https://youtu.be/CWErvhQnTew - 1:23.498, 225mm Falken w/ MCS, '23 BRZ Track Test #4
• https://youtu.be/1kfCUq8neeo - 1:22.730, 255mm A052 with MCS + RacerX arms, '23 BRZ Track Test #5

ECR 2.7 CCW

• https://youtu.be/VixGegVZQjQ - 2:22.987, stock 2020 GT86 with 245mm Hankook RS-4, Equalizer Attempt #1
• https://youtu.be/_-eGk3bP258 - 2:19.771, 2020 GT86 w/ camber plates, 245mm RS-4, Equalizer Attempt #2
• https://youtu.be/RWEP7H0iHno - 2:16.451, 225mm Falken RT-660, '23 BRZ Baseline ECR Test #1
• https://youtu.be/F9z81XM_Pu0 - 2:10.87, 255mm A052 with MCS + RacerX arms, '23 BRZ, ECR Test #2

We will keep adding links and ranking the laps for both of these "home track" layouts, and will post them in decreasing lap time order, with any recent tests in bold.

WHAT'S NEXT?

There are 4 more events already in the books for this car (3 TTs + 1 autocross) that I failed to cover here, but I better stop here before this post gets too long and boring to readers!



We did a bit better at some of these later TT events, racing in the correct classes and on the right prep levels. The first autocross in STR class also went very well.



We have a number of cool upgrades to cover next time including the 18x10" wheels we had custom built for T3 class (which fit VERY WELL), long wheel stud install, some lug nut challenges, a pair of new fixed back racing seats + harnesses for our BRZ, and a few other products we have developed. I will also show Jon's seat install next time as well.

Thanks for reading!