Febreze Mee's Wagon Build Thread (Heiress)

[Febreze Mee]

I just put a couple hundred miles on this 6MT GT4.

I drove up to Chuckanut Drive, and all over the back roads between Burlington and Redmond. I also saw Snoqaulmie Falls for the first time —finally. Experiencing this from the driver's seat did not help my efforts in saying "no" to futures ownership of Porsche. I was extremely disappointed in my car, when I hopped back in it to drive home, and then I re-familiarized myself with it and loved all over again. 

[Febreze Mee]

This month started off with a time crunch to get my mileage up on the new engine. And finish any last minute maintenance items on the car. With no standard set, I wanted to get as many miles on the car before deciding if I'd make the drive down to Texas, and then over to North Carolina for Tail of the Dragon and Porsche Experience Center (PEC) in Atlanta. The engine went in the car June 10th, and I had 3600mi on it without any kinks to workout by my deadline of July 7th. I drove it three days, and 2300mi home and immediately prepped for my NC trip that was happening on the 13th. 

Changed out washer fluid tanks before departing.

Another 1000mi later we get to our destination, Greenback, TN, where our forward operating base was for all ToTD ops we'd conduct over the next two days.

The AirBnB.

[Febreze Mee]

We spent two days in the greater TN, NC, GA area. Day 1 was for the Porsche Experience Center (PEC) and for visiting family in Northern, GA. I love this area! We took wonder driving roads on the way back up to TN.

This beautiful M2 was our introduction to behind the gates to PEC. Needless to say, we were excited.

 

Part of the heritage museum.

The main lobby.

We raced on the simulators for a half hour. Our first race was around the Ring in GT3RSs. And our second was on COTA (home) in a couple Cayman Clubsports. I got super sick in the last few minutes of the Ring, but finished strong and took 1st. I was sucking for COTA though. 
 

The sims were neat, but extremely underwhelming. And my the sense of speed didn't translate too well. I was most appreciative of the Recaro Pole Positions the rigs were built with, as I intend on getting a Pole Position Classic for the driver's seat later this year. 

[Febreze Mee]

Our second day, we had ambitious plans, and all fell through for the better. It was serendipitous, in that, we enjoyed driving the Dragon so much, we did an uphill four times, and a downhill three times, pushing the cars the whole time. Both Subarus held up without issue. I got a little nervous when oil temps got up to 260°F and quickly began a cool-down. I had been experiencing temps between 230 – 250°F all month in the heat of summer, all around the country (WA, ID, UT, CO, NM, TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, TN, NC), on both conventional 5W-30 and Pennzoil's Ultra Platinum full synthetic. During my drive down I began very seriously considering an oil cooler setup. The ToTD sold me on one.

We ended up meeting some friends in the wild and drove our last downhill with them. They were regulars, who lived in Atlanta, and drove up every single weekend! The car got a lot of love, and they wanted me up front to see the action.

It rained in the back half of the afternoon and stormed as the evening came. We still had fun in the curves thanks to the PS4Ss. All of us were on them, except for the Miata. It was so surreal on our way down as we chased each other through the light fog, and dying ambient light. I was in the lead focused on the road. My cabin is getting lit up from all the headlights behind me, like Steve Aoki was running a set in my back seat. The GRs inches away, in tow. Every other corner I'd pull away a little, but just get reeled back in by the 50+ HP and -700lbs sports cars. My BFF in the Type RA was 4th in line and described the views of all our cars swinging through the mountain as just blissful. I felt that, I just wish I could've had the same view. We got some good footage, but we'll be back with way more cameras and SD cards next time!

Edited September 5, 2023 by Febreze Mee
Fixing broken photos

[legacybt]

ToTD looks like it was an amazing drive!  Have you decided on an oil cooler setup?

[Febreze Mee]

On 8/19/2023 at 12:00 PM, legacybt said:

ToTD looks like it was an amazing drive!  Have you decided on an oil cooler setup?

I have actually! I was waiting to get all the parts in before snapping pics and disclosing, but since you've asked —I have a CSF 8066 in my closet, and ChaseBays thermostatic oil sandwich plate coming in this afternoon. I'll be taking some measurements a little later this week to decide on oil line length, and then I'll submit an order to anhosefitting.com for two well-fitted lines. I'll post the exact details when I get everything in and on.

[Febreze Mee]

As mentioned earlier, in the corresponding thread, I received my car back a couple Saturdays ago. The mystery issue has yet to reveal itself, although we have a few suspicions. BORING. Onto the fun stuff! I mounted and balanced Falken Azenis 615K+s on @shralp's Prodrives, packed the car, and set out for my first HPDE —finally.

After just under a year of incessantly clawing my way to a point with the car that I feel safe going 110% in a closed course environment, I was able to attend Porsche Club of America's Autocross event #9 at Bremerton Motorsports Park. I received some great instruction on the fundamentals, from some stand-up instructors who recognized good habits and bad ones from when they were coming up. They humbled themselves before pouring into me, and proceeded to offer a ride along in their own cars. Met a bunch of awesome people. Some novices, and others well-seasoned. 5 timed runs, and 4 fun runs – all in the hot afternoon. I could really use an oil cooler. 
 

 

A lot of the older guys were very happy to see the wagon out. One took a couple of videos and pictures of my car. I helped him option-out his future 3rd gen Outback, as he missed his previous 3rd gen. I was his push over the edge, and I'm glad to say this was only a bonus to the relationship made this day. At this point I'm thinking we just trade because he has a 987 Cayman S in almost the exact spec I'd want mine, on the OZs (you know the ones) that I would also like for it. I saw in person, and sat in, a GRFour for the first time! This was significant, because it's the only car I've ever wanted to buy new, and put some serious thought into how I might make this happen since it was rumored after the announcement of the GR Yaris. A year and a half later, when the GRFour was confirmed, I went to the nearest dealer to inquire about allotments and possibly put down a deposit. I ultimately decided against. Additionally, I threw my keys to another younger guy who'd shown a bunch of interest in my car throughout the day, and told him to go all-out. Unexpectedly, he returned his keys to his GR86 and said the same. Checked that box!

[Infosecdad]

That's awesome, I would love to do something like that sometime.

LOVE those Prodrive wheels, they are one of my favorites.

[Febreze Mee]

11 hours ago, Infosecdad said:

That's awesome, I would love to do something like that sometime.

LOVE those Prodrive wheels, they are one of my favorites.

The longer there on the car, the more I like them. I wish the offset was a little more filling for the Outback arches. They look very sunk in at most angles. They're definitely a looker unmounted!

[Infosecdad]

8 hours ago, Febreze Mee said:

The longer there on the car, the more I like them. I wish the offset was a little more filling for the Outback arches. They look very sunk in at most angles. They're definitely a looker unmounted!

Just think about how good they are for your wheel bearings...

I'd offer to trade a set of 18 x 8.5 Rota Gravels that would absolutely fill out your arches, but they have some curb rash and aren't in as good shape as those look.

[Febreze Mee]

You're right! Fortunately these wheels are only for HPDE use, so I'm not to picky. 

If I liked the gravels more than I would absolutely trade you, but I do like the look of the PFF7s more. Do you have any Prodive GC-010e s or GC-010g s you would be willing to trade?

[Infosecdad]

1 hour ago, Febreze Mee said:

You're right! Fortunately these wheels are only for HPDE use, so I'm not to picky. 

If I liked the gravels more than I would absolutely trade you, but I do like the look of the PFF7s more. Do you have any Prodive GC-010e s or GC-010g s you would be willing to trade?

I had a set of GC-010e that I sold last year

I do have a set of Enkei Raijin 18x8 as well that I would trade if you like the look of those.

[Febreze Mee]

Big bummer! 

Unfortunately, I still prefer the PFF7s over the Raijins on my platform. 

[Febreze Mee]

Having fun in the mountains. Having fun on the fjords. Having fun on the gravel.  Having fun in 70F° or 28F°. Having fun with @boxkita , @ckwaters, and plenty of others.  This describes my October and November. 22K miles in the last 5months. December will be a productive maintenance month, with a trip to Eastern Oregon for Christmas. Axle seals, trans and diff drain/fill, inner tie rods, and endlinks are in the chute.

 

 

[Febreze Mee]

A video of my hill climb on top of the Skykomish River. A spotter vehicle was up top. The road was scouted previously. Neither the limits of myself, the car, or the road were ever approached. 

 

 

[Febreze Mee]

Recent modifications include @BridNasty's old Prodrive mufflers (I polished them), and a CSF oil cooler set up. More on that below. 

 

On 8/19/2023 at 12:00 PM, legacybt said:

ToTD looks like it was an amazing drive!  Have you decided on an oil cooler setup?

At last, the well deserved, much needed modification this car needed for the Tail of the Dragon, and everything afterwards —an oil cooler!

The set up includes:

- CSF 8066 oil cooler

- Chase Bays thermostatic oil sandwich plate (thanks for the rec @08Spec_B)

- 26" of Nylon braided fuel lines (AN-10 lines) wrapped in a silicone fiberglass sleeve

The sandwich plate is clocked 90° from the front, to where the inlet and outlet ports are facing towards the passenger side. 

The cooler itself is enormous, and does its job too well (a problem I can deal with). I'll be fabricating some block off plates for winter driving tomorrow afternoon. For now, I'm just using cardboard like a peasant. 
 

Pre-cooler experiences:

Oil temps were a minimum of 230F° (110C°) at 60mph in all ambient temperatures ranging from 32F° to 85F°. Of note, oil temps remained at 230F° only when the engine had little load on it (on level ground) and at sea level. Temps would easily reach 240F°, and without much more effort reach 250F° (120C°) at 75mph in the same ambient temperature ranges while climbing unsubstantial hills, and certainly in mountain passes. Rain had little effect on the oil temps in all situations. I will expand on experience after installing when I get some more seat time with it. 

[boxkita]

245/18 BFG R1 slicks on 18x9.5 +35 almost perfectly fill the wheel wells of a LGT. 265 would fit with +30

[legacybt]

On 12/2/2023 at 8:06 AM, Febreze Mee said:

Recent modifications include @BridNasty's old Prodrive mufflers (I polished them), and a CSF oil cooler set up. More on that below. 

 

At last, the well deserved, much needed modification this car needed for the Tail of the Dragon, and everything afterwards —an oil cooler!

The set up includes:

- CSF 8066 oil cooler

- Chase Bays thermostatic oil sandwich plate (thanks for the rec @08Spec_B)

- 26" of Nylon braided fuel lines (AN-10 lines) wrapped in a silicone fiberglass sleeve

The sandwich plate is clocked 90° from the front, to where the inlet and outlet ports are facing towards the passenger side. 

The cooler itself is enormous, and does its job too well (a problem I can deal with). I'll be fabricating some block off plates for winter driving tomorrow afternoon. For now, I'm just using cardboard like a peasant. 
 

Pre-cooler experiences:

Oil temps were a minimum of 230F° (110C°) at 60mph in all ambient temperatures ranging from 32F° to 85F°. Of note, oil temps remained at 230F° only when the engine had little load on it (on level ground) and at sea level. Temps would easily reach 240F°, and without much more effort reach 250F° (120C°) at 75mph in the same ambient temperature ranges while climbing unsubstantial hills, and certainly in mountain passes. Rain had little effect on the oil temps in all situations. I will expand on experience after installing when I get some more seat time with it. 

Clean install!  Interested to see the results.  Routing it through the front structure definitely cleans up and shortens the plumbing.  
 

Are you using the raceflux viton lined hose or something else?  Worth noting that a lot of braided nylon hose has a max operating temp of ~250f which doesn’t leave much margin for the hotter supply line.  
 

Good to see the silicone wrap on those!
 

https://www.anhosefittings.com/lightweight-nylon-braided-viton-sae-j30-r9-hose-for-fuel-and-oil-10an.html

[legacybt]

59 minutes ago, boxkita said:

245/18 BFG R1 slicks on 18x9.5 +35 almost perfectly fill the wheel wells of a LGT. 265 would fit with +30

Still one of the most outrageous fitments on a stock body LGT .  I can't get my head around a wide tire on a +30 offset fitting, considering how tight my 255/35R18 on a +42 is up front on rolled/pulled fenders.  

[Febreze Mee]

1 hour ago, boxkita said:

245/18 BFG R1 slicks on 18x9.5 +35 almost perfectly fill the wheel wells of a LGT. 265 would fit with +30

That is such a beautiful set up! Reminds me of your 275 slicks. Ugh!

I have been working on another project, and it is in the fitment realm. Hoping to have that together come early January. 

58 minutes ago, legacybt said:

Clean install!  Interested to see the results.  Routing it through the front structure definitely cleans up and shortens the plumbing.  
 

Are you using the raceflux viton lined hose or something else?  Worth noting that a lot of braided nylon hose has a max operating temp of ~250f which doesn’t leave much margin for the hotter supply line.  
 

Good to see the silicone wrap on those!
 

https://www.anhosefittings.com/lightweight-nylon-braided-viton-sae-j30-r9-hose-for-fuel-and-oil-10an.html

Thank you! Ultimately, I am glad I mounted it up front, rather than where the hood scoop is.

I am using Raceflux viton lined hose. The max operating temperature value you gave is good to know, although this specific hose is rated for a little more at 302F°, accordingly to anhosefittings.com. I don't know the specific temperature at which Pennzoil Ultra Platinum breaks down, but I'm guessing it's about the same temperature. I'll begin a cooldown if I ever see oil temps reaching 250+. 
 

 

[Febreze Mee]

I made a winter block-off plate yesterday for the oil cooler. I'm trying to avoid giving anecdotal experiences, but I can't imagine it will change much from here on through the rest of the winter. I will consolidate average through the winter, and update. And then again in the summer of 2024.

Again, my oil sandwich plate opens up at 185F°. With the block off plate covering the entire width of the front and leaving a 4mm gap between itself and the cooler, my temps consistently stayed between 194-200F° While traveling between 65-85mph at 3000-4000rpm in 45F° ambient temps. 

[Enlight]

On 12/2/2023 at 11:06 AM, Febreze Mee said:

Pre-cooler experiences:

Oil temps were a minimum of 230F° (110C°) at 60mph in all ambient temperatures ranging from 32F° to 85F°. Of note, oil temps remained at 230F° only when the engine had little load on it (on level ground) and at sea level. Temps would easily reach 240F°, and without much more effort reach 250F° (120C°) at 75mph in the same ambient temperature ranges while climbing unsubstantial hills, and certainly in mountain passes. Rain had little effect on the oil temps in all situations. I will expand on experience after installing when I get some more seat time with it. 

That's surprising to me, what do you think accounted for such high oil temps? I'm assuming that you went without the OEM oil-coolant heat exchanger?

54 minutes ago, Febreze Mee said:

I made a winter block-off plate yesterday for the oil cooler. I'm trying to avoid giving anecdotal experiences, but I can't imagine it will change much from here on through the rest of the winter. I will consolidate average through the winter, and update. And then again in the summer of 2024.

Again, my oil sandwich plate opens up at 185F°. With the block off plate covering the entire width of the front and leaving a 4mm gap between itself and the cooler, my temps consistently stayed between 194-200F° While traveling between 65-85mph at 3000-4000rpm in 45F° ambient temps.

Did you find that your oil temps were below 185f without the winter block-off? Sorry to bombard you with the questions, just interested in what you're doing. I have a much smaller HKS oil cooler that I'll be installing in the spring.

This one begins opening at 70c/158f and is full open at 80c/176f.

[Febreze Mee]

2 hours ago, Enlight said:

That's surprising to me, what do you think accounted for such high oil temps? I'm assuming that you went without the OEM oil-coolant heat exchanger?

Did you find that your oil temps were below 185f without the winter block-off? Sorry to bombard you with the questions, just interested in what you're doing. I have a much smaller HKS oil cooler that I'll be installing in the spring.

This one begins opening at 70c/158f and is full open at 80c/176f.

Correct, N/A motors do not come equipped with the OEM oil-coolant heat exchangers (none of my 2006 N/As have anyway). 
 

In the 30mi I had the oil cooler without a block-off plate (immediately after installation of the unit), under minimal load in 35F° ambient temps, at 65-85mph at 3000-4000rpm —I was seeing consistent oil temperatures between 170-176F°. Attempting to stress the cooler, I saw temps as high as the mid 180s.

With 120mi more on a cardboard setup covering 2/3 of the fins (not the end tanks), I saw oil temps hover at 180-184F° in very similar conditions. I didn't try to stress the cooler with the cardboard. 

I'm going to start documenting all conditions and driving styles to put together a rudimentary spread sheet for my exact set up —oil temperatures in a low-mileage EJ253 with x-amount of miles on the oil under [blank] conditions, with a CSF cooler in [blank] dimensions. I'll furnish after I have enough seat time and entries into my log.

I wish I could better gauge what you could expect to see with your HKS cooler, but I just don't know. A friend of mine who's meticulous about his STi build, has a Setrab unit of similar dimensions to your HKS cooler, and has had no issues with his built EJ257. He also doesn't drive his car as hard as I would. I can't give you any empirical data from his setup, bc I just don't have any.

[Enlight]

Here's an interesting page I found on viscosity vs temperature.

Using data from their 5w-40 table (and 0c as a baseline), oil that is 70c (158f) is already 96% of the viscosity (thinness) of the oil at 100c. I think that's pretty comforting as far as over-cooling concerns go. Not telling you to remove the plate, of course. Just nerding.

[Febreze Mee]

45 minutes ago, Enlight said:

Here's an interesting page I found on viscosity vs temperature.

Using data from their 5w-40 table (and 0c as a baseline), oil that is 70c (158f) is already 96% of the viscosity (thinness) of the oil at 100c. I think that's pretty comforting as far as over-cooling concerns go. Not telling you to remove the plate, of course. Just nerding.

Thanks for sharing this! I, too, enjoy nerding out. Looking forward to seeing your oil cooler set up, once complete.