As documented here before, I dragged home a 2013 BRZ yesterday. The plan is for this to be my "make or break" track car build - I'll either get back into enjoying myself on the track, or I'm calling it a day, at least for now. I've only been on the track twice in the last four years due to my clutch foot issues, and I found the last time a little stressful. Anyway, I digress.
Why the "salaryman" build? Well, because I wanted to set a direction for it and I figured I'd build like my Japanese counterpart (ie, a salaryman with some disposable income, but not enough to build something silly fast) would build it. We'll see how far this goes.
So, yesterday I got the PowerStroke and the trailer out, and high tailed it further south into WV:
Got it home - after the turn signals on the truck decided to take a vacation - flattened a small tree with the trailer, unloaded the car and shoved into into the shop. The BRZ is pretty much the biggest track car I can get in there for now that I can move around. If I somehow smuggled a kei car in there too, the place would being to look like one of your typical Japanese tuner workshops. Only that they get work done there.
Today I decided it was time to clear out the interior, give it a bit of a vacuum and see how long it'd take for the smell from the magic trees to evaporate. Pulled out the floor mats, took out the trash - not a lot, but there was some stuff under the floor mats etc. I'd guess that the PO's girlfriend is probably wondering where some of her lip gloss went (into the trash bag)...
But me being me, I just had to check something a little more involved. One reason why this car was relatively cheap for a BRZ was because the PO's PO had run out of talent at some point and tapped the rear bumper against something a little immobile. You can see there's a little paint damage on the bumper cover and the cover and the fender don't quite line up. So, like picking at a scab, I had to pick at it, didn't I?
I mean, how bad can it be?
Out came the light. You can see that the mounting hole look a bit worse for wear, and the metal around the bottom one is a bit more bent than I'd like.
So, things escalated, quickly:
One advantage of modern cars is that some areas do come apart pretty quickly. Unfortunately the corner looks decided second hand:
Compare to the driver's side:
While I could have a go at bashing out the bent metal, I think I'll leave that to the pros. As long as a local bodyshop can straighten it enough that the vent fits correctly again, it'll likely resolve most of the fitment issues as well - I think the pushed in metal pulled the corner of the fender in a bit, too.
Oh, and one reason why I thought that this car was a little more quiet than other Frisbies I've driven in the past:
Yay, weight loss o'clock. Of course it is cheap mat, but the advantage is that it doesn't stick too well so I could actually get a bunch of it out by pulling and peeling. Need to get a heat gun though to soften it up more and get the rest out.
At the other end, the car looks depressingly stock:
That's actually one of the reasons I bought it - I couldn't find much in the way of signs of reverted modifications, nor ill-advised parts. Being a rust belt car, I have to have a very good poke around it from underneath, but in general it's in decent shape. There's some onset of surface rust, and the exhaust isn't in that great a shape (but still gas tight).
So, what's the plan?
Well, other than the unexpected visit to a bodywork pro, it looks a bit like this:
- Continue the weight loss regimen - at least pull the sticky crap in the trunk out and see if there is more. That stuff is heavy.
- Wheels and sticky tires for track use
- Brake overhaul, as usual. Brakes work fine other than the emergency brake which has a ton of travel before it holds. They're well used though, so it's rotor/pad/braided line time.
- See how the stock suspension holds up on the track. I suspect there might be Konis in the near future.
- Cat'd header, stainless exhaust, flex fuel sensor and a tune. That should take care of the dip of torques, and give a nice bump in power if/when I can run E85 without having to switch maps manually.
That should take care of this year. Depending on how things go, I'll fix what needs to get fixed, and see if I like track driving enough again to make a loop of the US next year in it.
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