Stubaru BRZ

[coldel]

Sporty turbo'd Toyota putting out around 280bhp, sounds like the perfect car to me 

[Ekona]

Sorry Gudzy, really not digging those yellow lights at all dude.

[Gudzy]

43 minutes ago, Ekona said:

Sorry Gudzy, really not digging those yellow lights at all dude.

 

I think it helps tie in the gold wheels and it's only small, it's not like its bright orange and all over the car or something 

 

 

 

[Ekona]

Better from the side I admit, but I still prefer the clear. Yellow fogs just remind me of really old crap cars is all

[Stutopia]

19 minutes ago, Gudzy said:

 

I think it helps tie in the gold wheels and it's only small, it's not like its bright orange and all over the car or something 

 

 

 

 

Looks mint mate, even hampered with the Toyota badge  , cracking wheels.

 

[Jay84]

4 hours ago, Ekona said:

Better from the side I admit, but I still prefer the clear. Yellow fogs just remind me of really old crap cars is all

I did it on my t sport corolla...so yeah I agree lol.

Stu I think it works better on the white than the blue car,  kinda like the yellow fogs on the ae86 from initial d. 

I used lamin-x and was really easy to use as it's quite thick, unlike window tinting film.

[nowhereboy]

As above! Looks well on the white one as it contrasts with the wheels. Seems to look a bit cheap looking on the blue, maybe a better picture angle is needed. 

[Stutopia]

But yellow and gold don't contrast?

[Stutopia]

Essential maintenance this time, none of your frivolous modding rubbish

 

New Stoptech pads and Goodridge SS lines all round. I don't know what pad combo the PO was running but I wasn't impressed by the bite or how quickly they started to fade. Much happier today on the spirited ride home. Looking at the good condition of the lines which came off, I suspect the pads have more to do with the performance improvement than anything else. Very pleased.

 

 

I also took the yolks out of the fried eggs, front and back. i did try LEDs first but they weren't kicking out the light output I was expecting, so they'll do as spares. 

 

 

I also had a SuperPro gearbox mount insert fitted.

 

 

This last bit has raised a minute buzz in the cockpit, nothing you'd notice with the stereo on, but it has tightened up shifting nicely. Sorry for the generic pic.

 

No pics but some camber bolts fitted up front and a geo, all in all some pleasing maintenance making her feel just that little bit sharper all around.

[Stutopia]

And lo, on the 1st day, the Lord did decree that the fog lights would be yellow. And it was thus.

 

 

Yay, on the afternoon of the 1st day, he did also decree that filament bulbs would no longer be welcome, LEDs were what was down with the kids. Sadly there were no kids, so they had to be invented first.

 

 

 

And there was much rejoicing.

 

 

[Ekona]

This atheist doesn't like the fog lights.

 

 

LEDs look much better though, good job dude

[Stutopia]

I didn't think you'd be converted

 

They were a bit of PITA to do as well, turns out the fog surrounds don't just pull off

[Ekona]

Oh that's a pain then, are they bolted from inside the bumper?

[Jay84]

I like that, works better IRL than the photoshop version. Agree the led'sbook good too. 

[Stutopia]

2 hours ago, Ekona said:

Oh that's a pain then, are they bolted from inside the bumper?

 

Yes, but the DRL bolts thought the top of the fog surround, so you've got to go in through the wheel arch, remove the DRL, then you can unclip the surround and unscrew the fog. PITA.

[Stutopia]

Pretty quiet on the modding front except I got shot of the battered OEM nuts and fitted some rather fetching blue ones. FIT!

 

 

I also bought a couple of suede effect thongs, two Subaru key rings and got busy in my backseat.

 

 

[ASemper]

I'm a tad late but funnily enough my mum replaced her BRZ with a G37 about a year and a half ago

 

 

Edited August 9, 2017 by ASemper

[Stutopia]

If there had been a convertible G37 within 200 miles of me, in black or red, I'd have been sorely tempted.

[Zeezeebaba]

I quite like the yellow fogs, a little retro cool isn't a bad thing. 

[Stutopia]

My monklike vow of non-modification suffered from a teeny tiny moment of weakness, involving a Beatrush Master Cylinder Brace. I stumbled on these when I was browsing pretty strut braces, and saw there's one with an incorporated MCB. I decided against the brace itself (the BRZ looks to be relatively well braced already and who wants to add unnecessary weight?), so I just went for the cheapest MCB I could find.

 

 

Sadly they only sell these in orangey/yellow, which is a colour I'm trying to eliminate from the engine bay. So some primer, a splash of purple rattle can and some clear coat later... et viola. Thanks to mopedmark for telling me to stop fannying about on the internet and try an old fashioned shop for my paint, it's amazing what they can do these days in the real world.

 

 

 

Bumping up nicely, against the MC.

 

I'd like to say this relatively simple looking mod was a doddle to pop in, but it was a total PITA. The bolt holes are way up behind the damper, totally inaccessible and a nightmare to get a spanner on. Then there's the nut side, where you're squeezed in up against a delicate looking computer box and constricted to about 12 degrees of spanner movement. After the faffing and swearing, it better bring a bit more to the party and than a nice splash of purple

[Stutopia]

In other news, I used my new found polishing skills to detail my driver. Can't decide whether or not to give it a coat of gtechniq yet.

 

 

 

I finally found a white van man to come and take away 5 mattresses and 6 fire doors, so I actually have a small place to play polishing indoors - not an actual full car's worth of space but it's better than nowt and I can just pop the panels off to work on them 

 

 

 

On top of that I went crazy and splashed the cash on a new vacuum to hoover up the new space. It does suck, blow, dry and wet - basically all your major functions, for just £60 - and it will even eat gravel, concrete dust, small amounts of mud, spiders and spider webs for fun. I couldn't resist once they knocked 20% off the RRP - https://www.drapertools.com/product/20515/20L-1250W-230V-Wet-and-Dry-Vacuum-Cleaner-with-Stainless-Steel-Tank

 

It's even got a bloke on the front, so you know it's not a sexist vacuum, unlike those Dyson's you see on TV.

 

 

 

Naturally, an OEM vacuum is no use to a real man, so I set about modifying mine. Popped in a reducer from another Draper kit, bringing the 35mm dia. tubing down a bit.

 

 

 

So that it now takes a range of portable tools from their smaller vacuums, including the tiny-brush-for-around-switches-and-buttons accessory.

 

 

And my personal favourite, the narrow-deep-cracks-and-crevices tool.

 

 

 

I'm not sure if it's the effects of age or hanging around the detailing section of the forum too much, but I'm starting to get a real kick out of cleaning things

[Ekona]

Come do my house?

[Stutopia]

Although I had this Cusco gas pedal extender sitting in the shed for a while now, last weekend I did the CAT Cornering Masterclass and Colin suggested an extended pedal to assist my heel and toe, thus, what was very nearly a frivolous mod became a very necessary driving aid

 

 

Not only does it look sexy and obviously is properly race car, it actually adds a bit to the pedal height, as well as width, which means that not only is it easier for my right foot to reach, the dab of heel elicits a few more RPM than before, which is good because I was struggling with the throttle response compared to the Zed. It's totally reversible and, like a correctly executed beating from an American cop, it leaves absolutely no marks.

[Spatt]

I was going to point out the spec of dust on your carpet only to find when i scrolled the damn thing was on my monitor!

 

Loving your work

[Stutopia]

I've pounded some motorway mileage in the last couple of weeks; this meant two things, one, she was ready for a wash and, two, I got a whopper of a stone chip. £25 excess later I had a marginally smaller looking stone chip and the guy even threw in some bonnet and roof scratches for free. Imagine my horror at wandering out to pay the man, only to see him wiping down the top 12 inches of the bonnet with a wad of paper towel. How you get glass cleaner so far from the glass will remain a mystery, I'm just glad he didn't give the whole car a wipe down.

 

Now you might think I'm being a little bit fussy about the use of paper towels, so watch this and see just how they generate swirls. Watch at 1080p for the full horror.

 

 

So, yeah, thanks for that

 

Remember kids, if you do need to get someone out to work on your windscreen, supervise the bugger at all times.

 

In better news, G1en of Wax and Shine of this very parish generously included a few CarChem samples when I made a recent order. So today I had a play with CarChem's shampoo and also the glass sealant. This was technically my second go with the shampoo, I tried it a couple of weeks back at the recommend dilution of a couple of cap fulls in my wash big bucket and it wasn't quite as lush and soapy as I like, today I went crazy and used four capfuls for a big bucket and it was brilliant. Slick and lubey and bubbly. Some people on here will tell you science has proven that bubbles don't matter, but that's rubbish, bubble lives matter. 

 

 

 

The Car Chem glass sealant was an absolute doddle to use, after the recommended 7 minutes time sat on the glass it buffed off incredibly easily. Time, technically rain, will tell if the 7 minutes was long enough to cure in today's slightly chilly conditions. It buffed off with such ease, compared to other glass sealants I've used, that I really hope this is a winner in the hydrophobicity stakes.

 

 

 

Last but not least, having a ceramic coating in place I decided to pick up a LSP that should hopefully bolster the protection, CarPro Reload - pretty expensive for a litre in my book, but it does seem to go a long way, so hopefully it will pay off in the long run. Nothing really struck me about this on first use, it went on and off easy and left a pleasing gloss. It appears to be streak free and leaves a nice slippy surface, we'll see what it does a dirt repellent as the weather deteriorates.

 

 

 

 

At least one of the previous owners was a bit of a greasemonger, leaving me with a shiny outer steering wheel. You can see in the before image below the tide mark between nice matt leather and the grim shiny stuff. After two good goes at it with a horsehair brush and quite a quantity of Auto Glym Leather cleaner, it is looking better, but not as clean as I'd like. I don't get much of a boner about AG products, but I don't mind the leather cleaner or the engine degreaser.

 

 

 

Hopefully another double blast next weekend might do the trick. If you've got any recommendations for getting leather back to good as new, please do let me know.