Fix The Torque Dip on FR-S, BRZ & Toyota 86 with E85, OpenFlash Tablet & Headers

The single biggest flaw with the Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ/Toyota 86 can be summed up in two words. “TORQUE DIP”. This terrible spot in the rev band around 4000rpm is where the car’s stock torque curve just falls on its face faster than a dog with no legs.

What this means is that should you shift a little too early, at full throttle, you shift and you’re dead smack in that torque dip, and that stock Miata you’re running the canyons with starts to pull away. Ouch. We love the FR-S, BRZ and Toyota 86, don’t get us wrong, but that torque dip really holds back an otherwise great little car. Fortunately, fixing it is a lot easier than you’d think.

You can fix this terrible torque dip problem with relative ease – here’s a few simple mods that get rid of that nasty torque dip without having to resort to a supercharger, turbo or nitrous. DANGER TO MANIFOLD, Bro! So let’s skip on the forced induction for now (though we do offer FR-S Turbo Kits, Toyota 86 and BRZ Supercharger Kits and focus on how to get rid of the dip on an NA car.

The first order of business is going to be a tune.

A tune is only half of the puzzle here and the starting point for fixing that damnable torque dip.

A Vishnu Performance OpenFlash Tablet is good for up to +20whp right out of the box running regular fuel, but if you switch over to E85 fuel, you can pick up as much as +25whp and +30wtq. A handful of other tuning options are available, but Vishnu and ECUTEK are really the only viable options as of press time.

You can go with either a “Canned” or “Off The Shelf” tune that’s already loaded into the OFT when you get it, or you can see a local reputable tuner and have a map tailored to your car exactly. Even with the same car with the same mods, the output can sometimes vary from car to car, as weird as that sounds, it’s true.

We’ve already discussed how to run E85 in your FR-S, Toyota 86 or BRZ and covered the Vishnu OpenFlash Tablet in greater detail in that post if you’d like to know more about getting a Vishnu OFT for your Toyobaru.

The second part of fixing the torque dip on an FR-S, Toyota 86 or BRZ is a header.

Peak gains for headers at best, is about +20whp/wtq, but in the critical torque dip, torque increases by about 14wtq on regular pump gas. Borla has two great options available and you’ll see these acronyms a lot – UEL and EL. UEL stands for UNEQUAL length, EL being Equal Length. The main difference between the two is the sound, as performance is about the same. On the upside, whichever header option you go with, you’ll be saving about 10lbs over the stock header.

 Borla’s Unequal Length headers are slightly less expensive and this type of header gives you that signature “boxer rumble” you know and love from modded WRX’s & STi’s.