powermatt's "I'll do more some day" build

[powermatt]

--- Original Post ---

I bought my 2015 FiST back in June of 2017, and it's remained stock until just a couple of months ago. I haven't done much, but I'm pretty happy with where it is right now.

It's a 2015 in Oxford White. It came with the Recaros, moonroof, navigation, and the titanium painted wheels/red brake calipers.

So far I've only really done three things. I've added a set of Firestone Firehawk Indy 500's in the OEM size and on the OEM wheels. I also removed the sound symposer with Whoosh's symposer delete kit. Lastly, I swapped out the stock cat-back exhaust for Cobb's cat-back system.

The tires were a massive improvement to the car's handling (replacing a junk set of tires that came with it). The symposer delete got rid of the annoying noise in cabin (I didn't realize how annoying it was until it was gone). The Cobb exhaust added a bit of drama that the car was lacking.

That's it so far. I've got no plans for anything else at this point, as I'm pretty happy with it. That and I don't want to get in to CARB rules before I'm in a position where I can have a backup vehicle. California life.

--- Original Post ---

All of the above was clearly a lie.

Things installed:

• Cobb Accessport / Stage 2 (so much torque...)
• Cobb cat-back exhaust (loud when I want it, quiet when I don't)
• Mishimoto intake (BOV noise now standard)
• Whoosh symposer delete (small thing, big difference in quality of life)
• Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 tires in OEM size (BIG difference in handling, wet or dry)
• Mishimoto radiator (no more overheating)
• Whoosh intercooler (because why not?)
• Cobb rear motor mount (buttery smooth shifts now standard)
• 4D Tech Sync 3 upgrade (Android Auto!)
• Sparco Assetto Garas in black & 16x7
• Firestone Firehawk Indy 500's in 205/45/16

Things getting installed soon:

• Nothing at the moment.

Things I'm thinking about doing:

• Nothing at the moment.

 

[ron@whoosh]

following for more updates!

we can get you into a rear motor mount and panel filter upgrade yet for just a little more driving experience "kick"

love the color!

 

[powermatt]

following for more updates!

we can get you into a rear motor mount and panel filter upgrade yet for just a little more driving experience "kick"

love the color!

It may be a while before there are updates. I definitely want to do more down the road, but I'm not in any rush.

I'm really torn on the rear motor mount. I've felt what one of the stiffer options is like. I do a lot of low-speed driving in my daily commute, and I feel like something that stiff would get old pretty quickly.

A Cobb AP tune and a filter are a couple of options that I'm thinking about, definitely. Easy enough to revert that once I need to start getting it smogged.

And thanks! The white really does pop when it's clean.

 

[Mikey456]

The motor mount was a great upgrade for me and I’m running a stock daily driver. I did research on the forum and went with the mountune motor mount because i wanted the softer option. There is no vibration and the shifting is improved. I highly recommend it.

 

[powermatt]

Weirdly I don't get the "clunk" when shifting hard on my FiST. Improvements to the shift quality would be nice though...

 

[Speedboosted]

Nice car and glad to see you're enjoying it! The Cobb and Mountune RMM are certainly some of the softest upgrades out there. I have the Cobb and will actually be selling it soon for something a little stiffer. I don't mind a few vibrations here and there.

 

[powermatt]

After a drive today, I know what I'm doing next. Upgraded radiator at a bare minimum (Mishimoto from Whoosh or Mountune), and maybe an intercooler while I'm in there (not much point on stock power I know, but as the topic says, I may do more some day).

Was doing a long uphill pull deep in the turbo, and it got hot enough to turn the idiot light on. Not sure what the temp was since my Bluetooth OBD II reader wasn't running at the time, but I probably don't want to know what that number was anyway. Pulled over, light went out, gave it a good 5-10 minutes to come back down. It finished the last few miles of the climb without any issues (obviously I brought my pace way down and tried to stay out of the turbo). Pretty sure it was just a perfect storm of relatively high ambient temps (86 F when I pulled over), steep climbs at relatively low speeds (30-40 mph according to GPS), and being constantly in boost.

 

[Business6]

After a drive today, I know what I'm doing next. Upgraded radiator at a bare minimum (Mishimoto from Whoosh or Mountune), and maybe an intercooler while I'm in there (not much point on stock power I know, but as the topic says, I may do more some day).

Was doing a long uphill pull deep in the turbo, and it got hot enough to turn the idiot light on. Not sure what the temp was since my Bluetooth OBD II reader wasn't running at the time, but I probably don't want to know what that number was anyway. Pulled over, light went out, gave it a good 5-10 minutes to come back down. It finished the last few miles of the climb without any issues (obviously I brought my pace way down and tried to stay out of the turbo). Pretty sure it was just a perfect storm of relatively high ambient temps (86 F when I pulled over), steep climbs at relatively low speeds (30-40 mph according to GPS), and being constantly in boost.

I don't think anyone here will say replacing the stock intercooler is pointless for exactly the experience you detailed. Quite a few would say it's the only thing you should do along with an accessport until you go larger turbo. Dropping charge temps is a big step to protecting the engine.

 

[powermatt]

If I'm going to have the whole front clip off anyway, why not? The focus for my FiST right now is keeping it a fun daily driver that doesn't compromise too much on that ability to be a daily. The radiator is a definite "when, not if" upgrade now, and if the intercooler helps keep the engine cool, I'm all for it.

 

[powermatt]

Pulled the trigger on the Mishimoto radiator upgrade (love how thorough their install videos are), and the Whoosh intercooler. So those will be going on soon.

 

[powermatt]

And now I've got a Cobb AccessPort on the way, and I'm looking at rear motor mounts.

I think I've graduated to "I have a slight problem" with my car now.

 

[Grouphare]

Maybe record some temps before and after the install? I would be very interested to see how that helps improve the temperature of the engine as I was thinking about doing the same upgrades to help combat the Texas heat.

 

[powermatt]

Maybe record some temps before and after the install? I would be very interested to see how that helps improve the temperature of the engine as I was thinking about doing the same upgrades to help combat the Texas heat.

Right now, 190 (all temps to come are in F) is about average for cruising at highway speeds (65-75 mph), with occasional peaks around 200 if traffic slows down or there's a mild hill. Poking around in traffic it typically sits around 200-210, and will engage the fan around 217-218 when sitting still (it only seems to get that high when sitting still in traffic).

I don't have much info on what it looks like when going on drives in the hills, as I bought the car in Summer last year and wasn't comfortable enough with it to drive it hard at that time. By the time I was, temperatures outside were cool every day, and I wasn't all that worried about it. Summer's getting hot here again in the Bay, so I'll have some more info soon (and by hot I mean about 85 as the high most days). It's going to be a couple of weeks before I can rope in some help to get the radiator installed, so I'm probably going to take it on one last drive before then to get a good baseline before all the mods go on.

On the drive that the idiot light came on during, the coolant temp was probably around 235-240 (this seems to be where the light turns on, according to what I've dug up).

 

[powermatt]

Decided to go for the Cobb rear motor mount. Seems like it's a solid choice for a daily driver.

 

[Clubfoot]

And now I've got a Cobb AccessPort on the way, and I'm looking at rear motor mounts.

I think I've graduated to "I have a slight problem" with my car now.

I know what you mean! I just started buying parts for mine and I am having an INCREDIBLY difficult time stopping.

 

[Speedboosted]

Decided to go for the Cobb rear motor mount. Seems like it's a solid choice for a daily driver.

The Cobb is an excellent choice for a daily. I initially bought that for my car, then felt that it was too soft for some reason so I took it off and installed an AWR 70a. That thing had more vibrations than I wanted with this car so I put the Cobb back on and am 100% satisfied right now. Adding the front lower 2pt brace was a nice improvement in steering feel, plus it's cheap.

(shameless plug) my AWR is for sale now if anyone is interested

 

[powermatt]

The Cobb is an excellent choice for a daily. I initially bought that for my car, then felt that it was too soft for some reason so I took it off and installed an AWR 70a. That thing had more vibrations than I wanted with this car so I put the Cobb back on and am 100% satisfied right now. Adding the front lower 2pt brace was a nice improvement in steering feel, plus it's cheap.

(shameless plug) my AWR is for sale now if anyone is interested

Thanks for the info. I'm sticking very firmly to my goal of keeping my car a fun daily. I want some more drama, but I'm not willing to compromise on comfort too much.

Meanwhile, the Cobb AP is on and flashed to stage 1. No real info to provide on this yet, since I spent all of today at or below 30 mph. Welcome to the Bay.

Also edited the OP to provide some lists of what I've done, will be doing, and that I'm thinking about. Which is a sure sign of my modding problem's status being upgraded.

 

[powermatt]

Not having a boost limiter on second gear is so much fun. It pulls so hard on its way to 60 now. I'd love to know how much that took off the 0-60 time, but that's not an easy thing to test where I live.

Also, it seems the Cobb tune makes much more use of the engine fan. It seems to turn on at about 195 F, and I've yet to see any temps over 200 F.

 

[powermatt]

Radiator, intercooler, and rear motor mount are on.

The install went really well (I had plenty of help). The Whoosh intercooler is as big as you can fit without cutting things (though one mount still had to be relocated). The Mishimoto radiator was tight, but fit without changes (zip ties were needed for one section of wiring harness). The RMM of course was a direct bolt on.

Preliminary observations are that the radiator has zero issues holding a rock solid 190 F when cruising on the highway (it's 80 F today). Charge temps were about 4-5 F above ambient at highway speed. The rear motor mount is noticeably rougher at idle, but feels almost identical to stock at any speed above that. Shifts seem to be smoother, especially the notorious 1 to 2 shift.

More info as I put more miles on it post mods. No plans for anything else for the foreseeable future.

 

[EnthusiaST]

Clean car! Add a short shifter plate.