Audio system update

I promised to give an update on the audio system some many months ago.  If you've been holding your breath, you probably passed out long before now.  Sorry about that.

The new view from the passenger seat

To review, I didn't much like the interface on the stock head unit.  I don't really use nav much anyway, nor do I like satellite radio (the sound quality is crap, in my opinion).  So I looked for an aftermarket head unit that had a larger screen, better ease-of-use, and that would function well for playing music from an iPod or other external device.  I settled for a Pioneer AVH-P8400BH.  It's got a 7" touch screen, "App Radio" features that can sort of control an iPhone, and more goodies.

I also wanted a little more "oomph" to the sound system, but I didn't want to add two hundred pounds of gear, so I had CAS Designs install a lightweight JL Audio 500/3 amp, and a little custom fiberglass sub box in the hatch area with a single JL Audio 8W3.

One of the problems I had with the OEM audio was it had a hard time overcoming the ever-present road noise.  There's just not much sound deadening in the car, and it's so low to the ground, you can always here lots of wind and tire noise when the car is underway.  We added some Dynamat to the doors and hatch area to try to reduce that.

New sub is compact and lightweight

The end results were pretty good -- the sound quality and volume level increased dramatically.  I hadn't realized how little bass response the OEM system had until we installed the new sub.  I do love the large screen and the crisp audio from the new head unit, and the ergonomics are FAR better.  It's intuitive to use, and answering the phone or changing tracks doesn't cause me to swear in frustration any more.

There are some disappointments, though.  For one thing, simply upgrading the sound system didn't make the car a better place for listening.  The car is still inherently loud inside at speed.  With the better sound system, I can certainly turn it up loud enough to mask the road noise, but after any extended period of time, it's loud enough to be kind of hard on the ears.  The moral is, there's only so much you can do; the car is not a Lexus.

The Pioneer head unit has its issues, too.  The App Radio functions sound great, but in practice they are kind of half-baked.  The system is fussy, and you have to set the phone to a certain app to enable the functions, and occasionally it doesn't work right. Sometimes I have to reboot the head unit to recover from errors.  That happens sometimes just when using the iPod, too.  Someday this will all be debugged and it will work perfectly, but we're not there yet.


Overall I'm happy with the upgrades.  CAS Designs gets a big thumbs up for the excellent quality work.

Winter Mode: Activate!

Mach V BRZ in Winter Mode

This blog has been quiet for a couple of months, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy.  Obviously the BRZ wasn't meant as a snowmobile, what its low slung stance and rear-wheel-drive, but we think any car can be fun and useful in the winter, given the proper equipment.  That means winter tires.  We picked up a set of lightly-used Legacy GT wheels (17x7 +53) with some Blizzak WS60 tires in the stock BRZ size of 215/45R17.  It doesn't really snow that much here in the D.C. area, so we held our breath each time cold weather came around, but we didn't actually put the snow tires on until the snow was falling this past week.

Blizzak WS60. That snowflake means "Let it snow!"

The stock "performance" summer tires aren't what we'd call super-high grip in the warm weather, but they're next to worthless once the temp drops below about 40 degrees F.  The same is true for our Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec track tires.  The Blizzaks, on the other hand, seem to work the same no matter how cold it gets.  That's not to say they're a great tire when it's warm.  The soft tread compound combined with the deep siping cut into each tread block means the dry-weather grip is very low.  We noticed some wheel spin just turning through an intersection -- something that never would have happened with the stock tires.  The tire feels normal in terms of sidewall stiffness and steering response, but the limits of adhesion are very low.

Who says you have to leave the sports car home when it snows?

Then it got cold, and this past week we finally got some snow.  The performance of the WS60 in the slush, snow, and ice, was a revelation.  In particular, braking performance is so good on packed snow or ice, it's hard to believe.  It feels about the same as driving the car on wet pavement.  It's amazing!  I found myself just doing braking tests anywhere I could find snow on the road, just to be astounded all over again.  Acceleration and cornering aren't quite as dramatic an improvement, but still are far better than any all-season tire we've ever used.  (Our 335i is currently shod with Continental DWS, so that comes to mind for an immediate comparison.)  I found myself thinking it would be a lot of fun to throw some skis or snowboards in the back and drive up to the mountains.  (For deeper stuff, factory ride height would probably be a better choice than the Mach V springs we've got on the car.)

That special Blizzak tread compound has a spongy composition that Bridgestone says is made of "thousands of microscopic tubes and cells (which resemble the consistency of Swiss cheese when examined through a microscope)". The tire tread can wick away water that would usually come between the tire and the snow or ice surface. That same light and fluffy compound isn't so resilient in the dry, though, so if you drive these tires around on dry roads for thousands of miles, the special tread compound will wear off. The manufacturer says at half tire life, you only have 10% left of the magic snow tread stuff.

Speaking of wheel and tire swaps, we've been experimenting with some different wheel and tire sizes to fit the BRZ.  I'll have more details in my next blog post.

Off to the track!

Each year for the past eight years, Mach V Motorsports (that's my business) has sponsored a National Autosports Association (NASA) HPDE weekend at Summit Point Raceway.  We invite our staff, friends, customers, and other Mach V fans to come out, drive, hang out, and have a good time at the road course.

Silver Mach V Awesome wheels

It's also a chance to put our cars and parts to the test.  Track driving is hard on tires, brakes, engines, and suspensions, and really shows the nature of how the car handles at the limit.  You can learn things about the car on track that you could NEVER find out on the street -- at least not without being arrested.

In preparation for our track sessions, we fitted up a set of lightly-used 235/40R17 Dunlop D1 Direzza Star Spec tires that we picked up from a local customer.  The Star Specs are one of our favorite high-performance street tires.  They have terrific grip in the dry, and aren't bad in the wet as long as it doesn't get too cold.  The 235/40R17 is 0.9% smaller than stock -- close enough not to matter, but in the direction of better acceleration, which we could certainly use in this car.  We put those tires on a set of our Mach V Awesome wheels in satin black (on the right side) and silver (on the left).

In the paddock

We also fitted our single-outlet muffler delete.  Between the lighter wheels, ditching the muffler, tossing out the spare and other related stuff, the car weighed around 60 pounds lighter than stock.

We needed every ounce of that weight savings.  I was in the HPDE 3 run group, with experienced drivers, many of whom were in high-powered hardware the little BRZ could never keep up with.  I spent the weekend pointing by all manner of Corvettes, Porsche GT3s, track-prepped Mustangs, Evos, and STIs.  Not every car out there was a big-power brute, though.  I was also passed by a turbocharged Toyota Tercel, and various Mazda Miatas.

Anyway, adjustments to my ego notwithstanding, the car was a treat to drive.  It cornered flat and without drama, and the cornering attitude was nice and neutral.  It would step out a little under power out of the corner, but it never threatened to spin, and never did anything that surprised me.  This was my first time on the track with this car -- actually, my first time on track in any rear-drive car -- so I left the traction control in full nanny mode for the weekend.  The traction warning light was blinking pretty much at every corner exit, but it was less intrusive than I feared, so I just left it on and concentrated on learning how the car behaved.

It's on!

Our car sits on Mach V lowering springs.  I was really happy with how the car worked with the new springs.  Summit is a fairly bumpy road course, and some of those bumps happen under hard braking or acceleration.  The car never seemed unsettled by the uneven surface, and the ride to and from the track was perfectly comfortable.

Reviewers have praised the stock brakes, so I thought I'd see how the car did with just stock pads, rotors, and fluid.  The answer is...not so well.  The front brakes got very hot during every session, leading to a soft brake pedal.  As the pads wore down over the weekend, things got worse, and after a few sessions the pads were smoking.  By the end of the weekend -- we did about seven half-hour sessions in total -- the pads were pretty much gone, the pedal was mushy, and the rotors were badly scored.  So, next time, we'll at least install some pads intended for track use, if not a complete brake upgrade.

Overall, I really enjoyed driving the car.  The driving style for the rear-drive, low-powered BRZ is very different from the grunty WRX I'm used to driving, so I still have a lot to learn, but driving the car on track is fun and rewarding.

Brighter light; louder noise

You know the incandescent bulb is a dinosaur, right?  New technology give us better, brighter light, with less heat and less power consumption.  For automotive applications, the name of the game is LED.  Fancy cars come with LED lighting now, but the less-expensive ones still make do with the older (but cheaper) bulbs.

LED license plate bulbs

Good thing work at a shop here to bring that BRZ into the modern age.  We removed every standard bulb we could, and replaced it with an LED equivalent.  That ended up being the puddle lights (in the doors), the backup lights, the license plate lamps, the fog lamps, and the dome light.  Oh, and the trunk light!

LED puddle lamps

Installation was pretty easy -- For the interior bulbs the lenses just pop off, and the new LED bulbs install in place of the old ones.  The exterior bulbs (fog, backup) are a little more involved.  The backup lights are easy to reach from under the rear of the car.  The fog lamp bulbs are accessed by removing some of the push fasteners under the lower splash shields in the front bumper.  The fog lamp bulb LEDs weren't exactly right -- they are an H16 bulb, and there are apparently different variants.  We had to carve off some of the tabs on our LED bulbs to get them to fit.  One we finished customizing the bulbs, they clicked right into place.  H16's push directly into their socket, by the way -- they don't push-and-turn like most automotive bulbs do.

LED backup lamp on right; stock on left

In each case the light is at least as bright as stock, and MUCH whiter -- closer to sunlight than the yellow stock bulbs.  We like 'em because they are practical and also eye-catching, and they don't cost too much.  It's a fun modification, and you can do a little at a time, or do the whole car at once.

Some new cars don't get along with LED bulbs, because the resistance is different (lower) than incandescent bulbs.  Those cars have automated bulb-checking routines that test the bulbs even when they are not in use.  The BRZ belongs to a simpler time, though, and doesn't have any of that new-fangled bulb testing logic.  In any case, no warning lights lit up in the dash after I installed all those LED bulbs.

Product links: License plate lamps, backup lamps, puddle lamps, fog lamps, dome lamp.

And for the second of the five senses in today's update, we built a prototype dual-outlet muffler delete.  This one has fully-polished double-walled tips, so it looks very presentable (as compared to our strictly-business single-outlet muffler delete).  It isn't what I'd call quiet, but I think it sounds great.  It's still much lighter than stock (I don't know the exact weight yet, but I'd guess it's around 18 pounds lighter than stock.)

We'll be manufacturing this one over the next few weeks.  When they're in stock I'll post a link.

Whiteline Com-C strut tops installed

From the factory, the BRZ comes with almost no front camber.  You can install eccentric bolts to get a little, but they don't help that much.  You can install solid aluminum upper mounts with spherical ("pillow ball") bearings, but those have their own issues, which include lots of noise.  Or...there's the Whiteline Com-C top mounts, which are a traditional rubber top hat, but with firmer rubber (like Group N parts), and with the center point relocated to one side.  It's not adjustable, but by installing it with the offset center pointing towards the center of the car, we can gain both caster and camber.  (See the photo above, showing one of the mounts on the passenger side of our car.)

Having extra camber helps the car to maintain grip in the corners.  Having more caster gives you more camber only while the wheels are turned, which (it turns out) is exactly when you need more camber.

The Whiteline top-mounts installed easily.  Mach V technician Tommy reports that they were no trouble to install; his only gripe was that the factory dust caps are slightly smaller than the holes they would go in, so he secured them with some urethane adhesive.

On the alignment rack, the car gained almost 1 degree of camber, ending up at -1.2 degrees left and right.  Caster also increased by a little over a degree, to 6.8 degrees.

On the street the car feels the same -- I didn't notice any additional harshness from the stiffer hats.  The car drives about the same, and I honestly could not feel the additional front grip -- the limits are so high that on the street it's hard to get the front end to wash out at all.  A few tail-out donut maneuvers in an empty parking lot showed that the rear is just as frisky as ever.



The big 255 tires fit under the front fenders a little better now, too -- before they were distinctly poking out of the front.  Now they're nestled in there nicely.

If you'd like to buy a set of these nifty top mounts, you can (as always) find them over at the Mach V web site.

Production muffler deletes are here!

We now have the production version of our Mach V muffler delete pipe in stock.  It's a simple, lightweight alternative to the heavy stock muffler setup.  Bolt this thing on and your car drops 23 pounds -- we can't think of another single modification that reduces weight by that much!  Plus, it sounds great.  (Check out our previous blog post for the video recording.)  It's all stainless steel, including the hanger, with a slash-cut tip that matches the bumper contour nicely.  Bolts up easily to any BRZ or FR-S.

You can purchase the Mach V muffler delete pipe HERE.

Radiator hoses, updates on previous posts

Cool hoses keep car cool

We installed some new silicone radiator hoses from Fuku Works.  (Fuku?  Sounds like...something from an Austin Powers movie?)  The hoses fit very nicely, and have an interesting webbed scale pattern on them.  The first color available is white, which matches our white car, but I think the other colors (blue, green, black) will be more practical in terms of not showing dirt.  It's a three-piece kit.  We installed them with special "cut-proof" clamps that we sell.

You can purchase the radiator hose kit from our web site, HERE.

So clean!  Of course, rain followed immediately

I washed the car by hand over the weekend, and was struck by how much less dirt accumulates on it compared to some of my other cars.  The rear doesn't have nearly as much soot stuck to it as the turbo cars, and the wheels barely have any brake dust.  Low weight + tiny brakes = low dust!  The small size means the wash doesn't take long, either.

Audio system update!  I really enjoy the Pioneer head unit (full name: AVH-P8400BH).  I have not been using any of the App Radio features -- I never need nav on the commute to or from work anyway -- but I have been plugging an iPod Classic in.  Then I can control the ipod from the head unit.  It works well, and the graphics are great -- cover art shows up nice and large.  The sound is very clear, too.  Actual buttons (as opposed to touch-screen virtual buttons) for track forward/back are very handy.  Answering and hanging up the phone works fine, too -- those are touch screen functions, but they are large enough that I don't have trouble hitting them, like I did with the OEM head unit.

The only thing that I'm missing is bass.  I bought the amp intending to add a sub, but to save time and money on the initial install I left the subwoofer for later.  Now I find that I really notice the lack of deep bass, and I'm pondering how best to address it.  I really don't want to use up a ton of precious rear space, nor do I want to add a bunch of weight.  Hmm.  Sub in place of the spare tire?  Inside of the spare tire?  Tiny sub under the passenger seat?  Custom sub in the rear corner of the hatch?  I'll do some brainstorming and check back here.

We've added a few more parts to our web catalog.  We now offer BC coilovers for the car, as well as Deatschwerks fuel injectors.  (You'll probably want those if you're planning to add a turbo or supercharger to the car.)  We also have the Injen intake in stock.  More parts are coming in all the time!