BRZ Rally Car

I think the FRS/BRZ's can do the bolt in wrx 4pot/2pot swap for smaller brakes like the newer STI's can. so you can run 15's

In reply to MrChaos :

Problem is that the primary interference is actually at the steering arm/tie rod, so you'd still be stuck running a wacky offset without a wheel shaped to avoid it.  The stock brakes are actually extremely close to clearing the Legacy 15s.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

In reply to MrChaos :

Problem is that the primary interference is actually at the steering arm/tie rod, so you'd still be stuck running a wacky offset without a wheel shaped to avoid it.  The stock brakes are actually extremely close to clearing the Legacy 15s.

Braids it is then

Dirtfish up in Washington uses prepped BRZs at their school. Maybe reach out to them for suspension travel tips and wheel fitment?

www.dirtfish.com/cars/brand-new-subaru-brz-turned-into-a-rally-car/

Edit: Just finished the video. Must be nice to wheel your car from the dealer to the shop for rally prep!

In reply to thatsnowinnebago (Forum Supporter) :

I've actually talked to them a bit, they've been remarkably responsive!

This sort of brings us to the "problem" with the existing rally BRZs, if you can call it that- they're almost all professionally prepped builds with high-dollar parts.  I don't want to entirely reinvent the wheel here, but I do want to see how much of this I can do the GRM way and spend less while getting most of the same performance- so when I run into "oh we just run these $2k brakes and this $1k set of wheels and this $8k suspension" I keep looking for a clever way that I might be able to do it myself.  In some cases I'm sure the result will be "just spend the money, stupid!" but everything is up for examination first.

thatsnowinnebago (Forum Supporter) said:

Dirtfish up in Washington uses prepped BRZs at their school. Maybe reach out to them for suspension travel tips and wheel fitment?

www.dirtfish.com/cars/brand-new-subaru-brz-turned-into-a-rally-car/

DirtFish Tubular Control Arms

15x7 et48 Method MR501 VT, designed for wrx 4pot/2pot swap either those or custom offset ones, you can get the MR502 VT in 15x7 et15 

tube front end.

the wheels are actually fairly cheap at $170ish a wheel. and the cheapest braid is like $300/wheel

i was going to suggest contacting Team O'Neil rally school but they seem to only use e30's for their rwd cars.

I just found these, idk how good they would be. https://rally.build/products/san-remo-corse-15-gravel-wheel-subaru-brz-15x6

5x100 15x6 et 33

MrChaos said:

I just found these, idk how good they would be. https://rally.build/products/san-remo-corse-15-gravel-wheel-subaru-brz-15x6

5x100 15x6 et 33

Yes, those are the go-to if I just say "berkeley it, I need something that I know will fit."

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

MrChaos said:

I just found these, idk how good they would be. https://rally.build/products/san-remo-corse-15-gravel-wheel-subaru-brz-15x6

5x100 15x6 et 33

Yes, those are the go-to if I just say "berkeley it, I need something that I know will fit."

thats fair

Chris, Eric Adams of CO RX has been racing a BRZin rallycross for years on 15" wheels.  I had previously hit him up about details for an Iowa local that was potentially going with a FRS for rallycross.  Here's what he said about his wheels.

I moved to the 15" wheel to have more and better tire options, and again, any rally wheel that will fit the WRX works, the offset is not ideal. That is why I went with custom wheels. The FRS factory wheels use a +40 offset. The default Subaru wheel in the 5x100 bolt pattern is a +52 offset. I found that to rub on the inner wheel well liner at high steering angles and high suspension compression. My solution was to get a +25 offset wheel. I run 185/65 r15 tires and found this makes the car much less darty on dirt.

If you'd like, I can put you in touch with him on FB.

So how thoroughly do you have to turn it into a BRZ? Just badges, or do you need a bumper too? Kind of a bummer the Suby never came in that color, so you'll have to do a color change or contrasting color if you do have to do a bumper swap. 

In reply to FooBag (Forum Supporter) :

Sure!  Looks like he drew similar conclusions to Evo Corse with their BRZ wheel, they have a little more offset but if his are 7" wide that would account for the difference.

In reply to cmcgregor (Forum Supporter) :

So, that.  There are no rules stating what color your Subaru has to be, or that it has to have a stock bumper, to claim Subaru contingency.  My approach is going to be to call this thing a BRZ and make sure it says Subaru on the car and on the entry list, and if there are issues beyond that to address them as they come.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

In reply to cmcgregor (Forum Supporter) :

So, that.  There are no rules stating what color your Subaru has to be, or that is has to have a stock bumper, to claim Subaru contingency.  My approach is going to be to call this thing a BRZ and make sure it says Subaru on the car and on the entry list, and if there are issues beyond that to address them as they come.

Pull scion badges, it's now a debadged subie.  Stick whatever subaru contingency stickers they want on it and go fly through the trees

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

Sweet. Fingers crossed it's that easy.

In reply to cmcgregor (Forum Supporter) :

Honestly, it's going to be a while before I have to worry about contingency, and who knows if the Subaru program will still exist anyway.  Now let's all stop talking about what dealership sold my neat orange Subaru, be cool!

 Sorry!

I think your description of the general construction on page 1 is hilariously correct. 

Hey, a goodie!  I should clean and reuse this, right?

But then, right behind it, is that the MAF wire loom touching a belt?

Unwrapped, repaired, and wrapped back up before it knew what hit it.  You will not defeat me this way, Subaru, my electrical diagnostic skills were forged in the fires of pre-OBD 80s bullE36 M3.

But the wiring berkeleyery isn't done- underneath, Sara found that the ground strap is broken:

I couldn't get a good picture, but the other one is too.  Could this thing's problem just be a bunch of ungrounded sensors?  More research needed but I ordered some ground straps.

Grounds can cause some wild issues. That's a good starting point. 

Did someone pull the motor without disconnecting the grounds? 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

It sure looks that way- this being a 2013, if it has had the valve spring or rocker arm recall the engine has been out at least once.  Maybe somebody yanked on them, allowing them to fail on the PO some time later?

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

Any reason not to just put some ring connectors on some AWG8 scrap wire and use those for grounds? That's what all the (similarly-broken, similar-style as yours) OEM ground straps on the e30 were replaced with. Is there something special about the braid/mesh-style ground straps that I've never realized? Serious question, I'm curious since it's not like you to order "OEM-type" stuff when I know you have plenty of random wiring sitting around. 

Also, it will be awesome if this thing's problems are all caused by two broken ground straps.....much like my Raider, where the PO swore he tried everything (including a new fuel pump) to get it to start, but didn't think to check the fuel pump connector wiring.....so I was able to start it 10 minutes after unloading it at home after fixing that. 

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

I'll probably patch something in for diagnosis, but universal ground straps are cheap and nice and flexible.  I think their only real benefit over regular wire is heat resistance, but since the grounds run right past the headers on this it probably can't hurt.  What's actually holding me up on that front right now is I don't really want to go clearing codes and messing with things until I have the recall report from Subaru.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

I'll probably patch something in for diagnosis, but universal ground straps are cheap and nice and flexible.  I think their only real benefit over regular wire is heat resistance, but since the grounds run right past the headers on this it probably can't hurt.  What's actually holding me up on that front right now is I don't really want to go clearing codes and messing with things until I have the recall report from Subaru.

Ah ok, they makes sense