Hey everyone! After getting inspired by some awesome threads on here, I figured it was finally time to share a bit about my T-5R sedan build and how things have been going. First off, huge thanks to my good friends Zach and Josh for always being down to work on the car with me and putting in the time without ever expecting anything in return.
Also want to shout out Will from TheWhiteBlockCompany and George from Viva Performance—thanks for always being super helpful and sharing your knowledge about these cars with me. I know I can be a clueless 20-year-old sometimes so thanks everyone for their patience.
Pre-Build History.
I Originally received the car in April 2022 and it had alot wrong with it. Apparently one of the previous owners had been cheating on his spouse who was paying to put some interesting parts on the car like a Greddy BOV(that wasn’t working) and they broke up and she wanted to sell the car so I bought it! Besides that the car had the Transmission “Flashing Arrow of Death” and all the vacuum lines connected incorrectly amongst many other issues.
The First Year with the car was spent doing maintenance and correcting most of these odd issues the car had.
Phase 1 (Manual Swap,Turbo, And Brakes).
Starting in February 2023 is when things really started taking off I ended up doing these modifications to the car.
M56H manual swap
VST Bumper( not mounted on car currently)
VST Original Monoblocks
VST big brake kit
Catless Downpipe to VST Exhaust
Td04-20t Turbo(Thank you Nick)
Green injectors
Dw200 Fuel Pump
Rip Kit
Japanifold
Group buy Lip
EuroSport intake
And Tuned by VAST
Phase 2 (KW V3, Delrin Mounts, Chasis Braces, and Sway Bars).
In December 2023 I was in a really bad car accident in my 2006 Ocean Race xc70 which has pushed the suspension build out to now.
but now we are healthy and inspired lol.
I want to mainly be able to do mountain runs and track the car and upgrade the suspension and cooling to be able to handle this and these are where my questions come into play.
Suspension Parts ive ordered/have.
KW V3 Coilovers
c70 chasis subframe brace
BNE Delrin upper motor mount
BNE Delrin subframe bushings
IPD Sway Bars
VST Front and Rear strut tower braces
MPRE Engine mount Right
MPRE solid Delta Links
MPRE adjustable end links
MPRE Lower torque rod V3
MPRE Delrin Upper Rear Firewall to top motor mount
Im sure this Is more than fine for what I want to do with the car. And yes Driver mod is the most important but with 300k miles on the chassis and with seemingly most of the suspension components not being changed I decided to spend more money now to save in the future.
Questions and my plan!
My plan for the car is a OEM & VST inspired look to the car but upgrade to quality the parts that I can and should be for track use. Im anti bucket seats and a cage currently as I love the way the interior looks on these cars and dont really want to mess with it.
1.) Oil cooling/Oil Pan. My original plan is to do a RN pan swap is this enough for some track days? Or should I look into a upgraded oil cooler aswell Ive seen some people mentioning success with Setrab oil coolers.
2.) Is this ultra racing side and rear bracing worth it for these cars? Ive seen a good amount of cars with them, however I haven’t seen alot of feedback.
3.) Am I missing anything important? Obviously I will be changing out pads and doing a brake fluid flush before track days and inspecting the car.
Some extra photos
(just added a regular 850 shift knob if anyone has the walnut one lmk)