I'm also planning on getting the Sprint "BBK". I went in the opposite direction lol, I got the RX8 calipers first lol. I have them stripped down, just need to drop them off for Cerakote. Gonna go with a gunmetal Cerakote over powder this time as Cerakote is thinner and more durable, but most importantly it leaves behind that OEM cast look that powdercoating ended up kinda filling in and smoothing out. Eager to hear your impressions on the setup as I'm sure you'll get it done before I do. Loving the Vmount setup...Kinda wishing I had done that....

 

Nice. For a rear upgrade the Sprint BBK really seems like the way to go these days. I went with the Urge rear rotor a while ago which has been solid and the rotor is obviously quality as I believe they're made by girodisc. Having larger pads/rotors should lead to longer lasting pads and less hassle having to swap in used/shaved pads, or mixing old pads with new pads. I'd bet the s2k oem solid rear rotors transfer more heat to the rear hub which leads to more bearing/hub failures (which I wanted to avoid) not to mention pad fade on lengthy sessions. Bang for the buck you can't beat an iron oem rotor imo. Bias does shift a bit to the rear with this rear kit but I'm hoping I can just offset that a bit by using a pad with a slightly higher coefficient of friction. For rx8 calipers, I thought about rebuilding a set myself but it seems like work I'd rather not mess with these days. I'll buy some good reman'd ones.

Does anyone know of any articles/studies comparing brake pads? I remember hawk had a nice graph of their different pads comparing their coefficient of friction based on temperature, but haven't seen something like that for other mfrs. I'll have to find the hawk one.

Regarding the v-mount, as you know, it's never ending. You can always go that route down the road.

 

I wanted to run the ST42 on the SBG Sprint Kit, but Raybestos is discontinuing the ST42 compound and I would have had to buy 5 sets to get an order. So, i'm going to run ST43s in the rear.

Did some research, and it seems like people coming from PFC97s switched to the ST43 and were happy - a little bit more initial bite with the ST43, but same pedal modulation characteristics and good consistency throughout the session.

I'll report back results after July 24th - going to be running ST43 Front with the StopTech ST40 calipers and ST43 Rear with SBG Sprint Kit.

 

I have been pretty happy with DTC-70's on StopTech's. I was also very happy with several of the Wilwood compounds on Wilwood calipers.

 

Not much to update on the car lately. Life gets busy at times and I think it sat for a couple months over the summer. As weather starts to cool around here I'm making a point of driving it now as it's nice to put the top down and not get baked in the sun. It's a blast on the street. The kids love going for rides. Finally got this diff from puddymod. 3.63 Stage 2. I've been waiting for a good 8 months I think..? Things are delayed these days just be patient. I went with a 3.63 because a 3.9 would barely be noticeable imo. The car makes plenty of torque/power for a 3.63. I've said it elsewhere, but for the AP2 with the lower redline I think a 3.63 is the way to go. If you have a 9k redline you can get more mph in each gear. I'm waiting on the yellowbox to adjust the VSS signal.



I don't know if I'll make it to a track day this year but I'll enjoy just putzing around on the street. I'm not sure when I'll install the diff, maybe over the winter at this point. I like the new gauge setup with the single boost gauge on the pillar.

 

I got the itch to tinker with the car and opted to finally install the puddymod 3.63 diff. Before installing it I wanted to check the speedo with a GPS app for my phone to compare the speed. I thought the OEM speedo might read high but it looks like it's right on accurate cruising on the highway with 255/40/17 square tires and the oem diff. The yellowbox came in the mail but I haven't installed it yet. First onto some pictures. Here's the new and old diff side by side.


New diff all prepped for install.


All back together.


Not too much to see/say regarding the install. It's pretty straightforward. Removing the studs from the OEM diff the one tip is to spray some wd40 onto the studs to loosen them. I broke an 8mm 3/8" socket trying to zip it off with an impact. Some studs were stuck but the wd40 loosened them up. I also opted for some Megan racing axle spacers for the rear. My car isn't that low but the car now has 53k miles on it, and I thought I might be getting a slight vibration from the rear. On the initial test drive the car seems to be have a little less NVH, so hard to say what changed exactly, but it felt smoother.

I've only taken the car for a brief ride but for primarily a street car I like it. Cruising RPMS with the OEM 4.1 were ~3150 at 60mph and ~3650 at 70mph. I will have to double check with a GPS app but looks like rpms dropped almost 500rpm. So, ~2650 at 60mph and ~3150 at 70mph. It definitely reduces noise/drone considerably when putzing on the highway. For normal driving you can definitely notice/feel the taller gearing. It's ~11.5% taller. I will say it has made the car a touch slower. For a track car the OEM 4.1 or a 3.9 is the tallest I'd go, but for a mixed use street/track car with ~400whp turbo car, the gearing no longer feels short for the street. I will put some miles on it and chime in with my thoughts later, but I'm happy I went with the 3.63. Like I've said before, for an AP1 with the 9k rpm redline and less low end torque the 3.63 is probably too tall, but for the AP2 I think it's perfect for a street car. It drops the RPMs on the highway so 6th gear is a bit more subdued. Before at almost any highway speed I could just give it throttle and I'd have boost or even full boost (I have full boost ~3700?), but now I might need to downshift to fifth. Regarding noise it seemed considerably better.. again not sure if my axle cups were starting to pit or what, but it seemed noticeably less harsh on the street.

I will install the yellowbox one of these days and some more thoughts after I've had time to drive the car more.. probably next spring as winter is around the corner.

 

Looking good, long time no see.

 

Thanks @DaGou /Wally, what you driving these days? I think I recall you sold your S?

Not too much lately car related just bogged down with other stuff. I am happy to say I washed it, cleaned it up pretty good, and applied some paint sealant. It's the best/shiniest it's looked in a few years. I took it for a drive over the weekend and she's a lot of fun. I really love the car for fun/spirited drives it just does everything so well. Pre-turbo the car lacked a little power but I feel it's pretty damn balanced now. I personally love the 3.63 for the street (I've only put about 250miles on the car since installing the diff). The car is a tiny bit slower but it's a tradeoff I'm happy to make. Cruising on the highway at 70 the engine isn't spinning as fast so it's quieter, and in general it feels like a more appropriate gearing for a car with almost 400whp. With the stock gearing from a roll punching it in 2nd the tires had a hard time hooking (with tires warm). Now with the taller FD 2nd hooks pretty well with warm tires. Boost comes on quick and I found the stock gearing too short but this seems just right. With the turbo and exhaust the car is pretty damn quiet relatively speaking, so it's nice for cruising with the top down. When you get on it it wakes up but that's another plus of a turbo car, it's quiet (at least with a closed loop WG, open loop is loud). Here's a couple shots before I went for a spin.





Unfortunately I don't drive it as much as I'd like these days which is a shame, but I also don't put useless miles on the car which is good. I'm obviously quite rusty in terms of driving on track so I really have no desire to take this thing on track anytime soon. Like most others these days in a similar predicament, the body is still in good shape and motors are hard to come by (nothing like OEM) and I don't care to add more wear and tear, especially if I'm out of practice myself at the track. I'd love to pickup a new brz/gr86 over the next year or so. That's really my plan. When I can be sure I can do at least a handful of weekends at the track each year, I will pull the trigger on one. I'd love to just drive to VIR, Watkins Glen, and a bunch of other east coast tracks, and I just don't think it's worth taking the S now. Maybe down the road but it's not worth putting so much wear and tear on the car to me right now, so it will be just a fun street car.

With that said, I still have more plans for the car. I purchased an Infinity as well as some other small things to make the switch, I just haven't gotten around to doing the work on the car. The flashpro lacks safety features that should be standard these days on a boosted car imo. I plan to add an ethanol sensor (because why not) but seeing as how I'm running 1050x's (not 1300's) I'm not sure switching to ethanol will do much for me besides provide a bit of a safety net. I have thought about switching to 1300's.. maybe I will, I'm sort of on the fence about it. Anyone car to chime in are there any downsides to the 1300's vs the 1050x's? People seem to report idle quality/etc are all fine. I am just running a plain jane walbro 255 which I like as it's reliable. I guess a jump to 1300's would necessitate a switch to a walbro 450 and rewiring it. Not a big deal but just one more thing to do. I'm happy with the power level and honestly the fact that 1050x's cap the power level to ~400whp is a good thing. More power is addicting. Once you turn up the boost it's hard to turn it back down and obviously there's more wear and tear... Hmm.. Another ~50whp might just be enough to close the gap between a friend's hellcat though. Anyway.. I'm rambling at this point but I've been slacking finding the motivation to work on the car and install the infinity but I will one of these days. I guess I'm also not looking forward into diving head first into the software and learning it. I also have the rx8 rear brake kit sitting in my garage, but I have so many pads for the s2k rear caliper I realize no rush switching over.

For now I'm just going to enjoy driving it. The turbo whistles like a big diesel truck.. you can tell the throttle position based on the pitch of the whistle which is great. It makes all kinds of great sounds and is a blast to drive.

 

Looking real good! You make me miss my S sooo much....
I like that you never rolled the fenders.

 

Thanks man. Ya I will never sell this car. It's definitely special. I did roll the fronts a bit, but the rear fenders are still virgin.

All depends what you want from the car. I understand why many ppl move on to Porsches/etc, heck, I may own a Porsche too one of these days, but they lack some of the fun and are more subdued to me.