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Plans:Supreme handling and a hoot on the street and track...
Background So here we are, finally after being out of the car modding game for almost 2.5 years now, waiting for that perfect car to show up and I finally found it. On April 12, 2010 I picked up a 2004 Subaru WRX to setup as my fun daily/weekend car with a side of autocross and track in mind. The car as it sits right now is 100% stock and to my knowledge and how the car was use never really thrashed or abused, which for me was the selling point.
I should say at this point the WRX will mostly be prepared to compete in the E-Street Prepared class of the SCCA Solo 2 program. It will probably receive a roll bar at some point as to be a little safer on the track and to be legal for hill climb action. Starting the build out I am not going to go too crazy, but would like to get the most out of the stock turbo as far as power is concerned. The car will be receiving a needed refresher first and foremost. From there we'll get it running tip top with some power adders and move on to a custom set of coilovers and some other little handling bits not yet disclosed.
Feel free at any point in the thread to pop a question or if you think I could benefit from something that you have a background in please let me know. I love criticism and it gives me motivation. Please however direct your questions over to the Q&A thread that I have created. I'll do my best to keep this thread cleaned up to provide all of the eye candy, photos, and information with the ease of access it will deserve.
Modifications Listing SCCA Autocross - Street Modified
Cobb Accessport Tuner
Drivetrain
5 Speed WRX Transmission
Exedy OEM Replacement Clutch
Fidanza Lightweight Flywheel - 12.5lbs
Techna-Fit Braided Stainless Clutch Line
SPT Short Shift Linkage
TWM Performance Short Shifter
Group N Engine Mounts
Group N Pitch Stop Mount
Group N Transmission Mount
Turninconcepts Transmission Crossmember Bushings
Turninconcepts Rear Diff Bushings
Turninconcepts Rear Diff Outrigger Bushings
Turninconcepts Shifter Pivot Bushings
Kartboy Front and Rear Shifter Bushings
Suspension
AMR Engineering Custom Coilovers
AMR Engineering Front Camber Plates
BC Racing Rear Camber Plates
Eibach ERS Race Springs - 500lb F / 550lb R
24mm Whiteline Front Swaybar
20mm 2002 WRX Rear Swaybar
Perrin Rear Swaybar Stout Mounts
Turninconcepts Rear Lateral Link Bushings
Turninconcepts Rear Trailing Arm Bushings
Whiteline Steering Rack Bushings
Wheels/Tires/Brakes
17x9 Rota DPT Wheels
255/40x17 Hankook RS3 Tires
EBC Yellowstuff Brakes Front and Rear
ATE Super Blue Brake Fluid
Interior/Exterior
GeForce 5 Point Camlock Harness
Killer B Motorsport Delrin Shift Knob
Odyssey PC680T 14.5lb Battery
Pioneer AVH-P4200DVD Indash Player
Pioneer AVIC-U220 Navigation Addon
Polk DB6501 Front Components
Debaged Decklid
STI Front Splitters
STI V-Limited Lip
STI Sideskirts
Rallyarmor Urethane Mudflaps
Just quick photos to get this show underway, as I said the car is all stock right now. I haven't really had a whole lot of time to go over it yet or start cleaning up the engine bay, but some before photos are always nice to have around.
Today after I got home I got to tackling all of the fluid changes and getting ready to do some other little things tomorrow and Wednesday. I did transmission fluid, rear diff fluid, and engine oil today. Tomorrow I'll be getting to changing the spark plugs, fuel filter, bleeding the brakes, and also installing a much needed boost gauge. In general over the next 2 days I'll work on cleaning the engine bay up and trying to get it somewhat up to my standards.
So today I had my first event ever with the new car. I wanted to run it, even if it wasn't setup just to give the thing a little shakedown and make sure there would be no extra problem arising after the other parts went on. It was on stock all-season tires to boot. Anyway I still had a blast, it was fun, and I couldn't find anything single problem with the car mechanical wise. It was a really good day.
The results on the other hand sucked. I ended up getting 7th in STX and 37th PAX time. Probably the worst finish I've ever had, but as I said my excuse was the car being all stock hahah. That's the last time this is going to happen trust me. Anyway checkout the sweet video hahah.
The Coilover Install and New Rubbers - April 30, 2010
Well today was a ridiculously busy day. Got the car all setup handling wise for autocross. I think the only thing I still need to pickup are front endlinks for the 24mm Whiteline swaybar. That will come in due time along with a good set of brakes. It's pretty easy to overpower them right now with a set of 245 Dunlop Star Specs.
For the coilover and spring setup I went with a custom set of Ground Control/Koni's. They are setup with a 500lb front and 550lb rear spring. It feels incredibly good on the street, nice and neutral for the most part, but can enduce oversteer if wanted.
The alignment on the car is -3 degrees camber front, -1.7 degrees in the rear with 0 toe front and rear, and as much caster as I could get out of the Ground Control camber/caster plates in the front. And now for the eye candy.
Some nice rigidity bars, thanks Subaru
The goods, 2nd photo is my rear helper spring setup, not standard but definitely needed for a decent amount of lowering.
So after not being down to DC Region myself in over 2 years I figured it was definitely over due, especially since they have such a strong STX following down there at the moment. John and Travis always put on a good show in their 03 WRX, and now another competitor of the region Chike is putting together a serious RX-8 STX build as well. I also wanted to get an event or two in with the car setup before the big divisional at the end of May.
We all went out for our first runs, on a brand new lot mind you, and I think all of us were pretty stunned and happy just how great it was and how much grip we had out there. I came across with a 43.595 on my first run, which put me in 2nd position, Chike 1st, Travis 3rd, and John 4th carrying a cone. I was blown away with how well the car performed and knew it was going to be a good day with how close we were all running. The car rotated really great, power came on at the right times, it was just going well.
Second run I wanted to really push the car and see where I could make up some time. Unfortunately in doing so I carried a cone on the 2nd run and pushed a little slower. All our positions pretty much stayed the same after this run set.
Third runs really got the blood pumping. I myself wanted to calm down a bit and get a nice composed run in. John ran first and threw down a 42.853, which Travis then bested with a 42.762, RX-8 came across with a 43.463 and I came in at a sub 43, 42.957. Absolutely thrilled that we were all running so closely and knew something had to be done in the final run.
Fourth run John was up first and absolutely demolished us throwing down a 42.644 to take over the lead from Travis who can only muster a 43.3 on the final run. RX-8 came through with a flying pass of 42.868 to take away 3rd place from me by .089 seconds. I couldn't not do a better time on the 4th run with the current tire temperatures and only managed a 43.097.
So at the end of the day only .3 seconds separated 1st through 4th place.
1st John - 42.644
2nd Travis - 42.762
3rd Chike - 42.868
4th Adam - 42.957
Absolutely the closest battle I think I've had in a few years and well worth the trip down there. I'm really looking forward to running with those guys again at Divisional towards the end of May. If you guys are somewhat local I suggest checking this event out, it's going to be so much fun. I'll leave you guys with a video (incar and spectator) and a photo.
Ok the car sure is coming along well. In the past few days we handled the power problem, and should be pretty darn close to STX rule spec, minus the headers. They may be something that comes later in the year or next season.
I started off replacing the up-pipe, which for you non-Subaru guys who are asking wtf an up-pipe is that is the pipe that goes from the manifolds up into the turbo. The stock up-pipe on the 02-05 WRX's had a catalytic converter. Who puts a cat before the turbo is beyond me but it was there. That piece was replaced with a Grimmspeed Ceramic up-pipe with no cat and a short flex section.
The exhaust I was very picky with. I didn't want something that was going to drone and be obnoxiously loud on trip and cruising around town. I did want to hear some noise though. The exhaust I settled on is a full 3" Turboback from TurboXS. It uses a 4" bellmouth downpipe, down to a 3" catalytic converter and then back to a really clean muffler and exit pipe. This bad boy is super on the interstate and cruising but sounds very badass under throttle. I'm extremely satisfied with the entire setup. I'll hopefully have some audio clips and video to post in the next day or so.
Since I have an 04 my car required to be tuned after the install or risk damaging internal engine components, which would be very bad. I opted for the Cobb Accessport since I knew it was SCCA STX legal and I wouldn't have any problems with it. I currently am running Cobb Stage 2 off the shelf tune. This dramatically changes the parameters in the ecu, changes the closed to open loop transition times, and ups the boost pressure from stock 13.5psi to 17psi. The car feels incredibly different now. Boost comes up soo very fast and there is zero lag between shifts. I can't wait to get it out on both the 1/4 mile and the autocross and see what happens, very exciting.
No much more planned at the moment. I want to take care of the brakes before TOTD. I will be using Hawk HP+ or a step harder and some new rotors. The current power level of the car overpowers the stock brakes after about 2 corners and this may be looked at sooner.
So by now you guys probably want to see some new photos,
The Grimmspeed Catless Up-pipe and TurboXS Exhaust
Autometer Boost Gauge and Debaging Complete (Mmmm Clean)
Alrighty, I'm only 2 days late in posting a recap from this event. Let me just be the first to congratulate everyone involved with this event, it was seriously one to remember. Travis and I headed over to the lot a bit to do some practice runs on Friday. The car felt very good, we did have some front end traction issues, which at that point decided we would try a different tire pressure approach for the event.
Saturday morning came and STX was in the first heat of competition, which we weren't really happy about, but it should have helped those of us in the WRX's. Travis was driving our friend John's car, and Kevin Tulay would be co-driving with me, you may remember me in his red CRX at some point in the past. The runs started off pretty fast, everyone was pretty close together at the top of the STX charts. The car was working fantastic, we were running more rear pressures at the end of the day on my car and it was putting power down finally as well as rotating and transitioning fast. Something I've been looking for to do in a long time. At the end of day 1, all of the co-drivers were beating the car owners. The RX-8 owned by Chike was in 1st and 2nd, Kevin 3rd, Adam 4th, Travis 5th, and John 6th with the rest of the class trailing. Top 6 were within just 3 tenths of a second, and many spots separate by hundredths. Anything could happen on day 2.
Sunday morning then, STX was out first again. Course was dry and it looked scary fast in sections. Almost a reversal from the day before but definitely more opened up. As I said anyone could win the thing at this point. The owners came out strong this day. Chike was flying in the RX-8, John was running pretty decent too. I basically threw away runs 1 and 2 with stupid mistakes and my co-driver and everyone else was kicking my butt. Run 3 finally calmed down a bit and set a blistering run to take the lead for about 2 seconds till the RX-8 came across the line, edging me out by a 3 hundredths of a second. Run 4 I went out there and let it hang out and set a time .6 seconds faster then my last, but it was carrying a cone. If that run was clean it would have been so close for the overall. Disappointing enough, it still gave me enough leverage to take second place overall for the weekend. My co-driver came in 4th, with the RX-8 in 1st and 3rd, John 5th and Travis 6th. Everyone did a great job all weekend and the competition was just incredible. For you guys who couldn't make it out, definitely be there for the next big event. It doesn't get any better then this.
Day 1 Side by Side with Co-Driver (This video is rather interesting. Kevin seems to get on the gas much better earlier then I do and comes out of the corners stronger. I however close the gap and usually pass under braking and in fast transition zones. Pretty cool watch.)
Not too much new on the car front right now, getting it ready for a 2 day event this weekend, and then back down to Washington DC Region next weekend to run with Travis and company again. Only thing new since my last blog is a set of freshly installed Rally Armor Urethane Mudflaps. Fitment on these things is balling, they are wide, cover the entire tire, and do not drag the ground. Designed for a lowered car with big tires, me likey!
Next up I've got a set of Hawk HP+ pads for front and rear scheduled to show up tomorrow, and a set of new rotors in the garage. This weekends event should be a good one.
So this past weekend I headed out to the super fast Central PA Region since they were running a 2 day event at Mid-State Airport. I finally got some real brakes on the car, in the lines of Hawk HP+ pads front and rear along with all new rotors. I'll say it right now, they are absolutely incredible, much better then they felt on the Saturn since this car also has larger rotors and more pad mass.
So here we are, day 1 Saturday. Guess what, STX decided not to show up on Saturday. I was all alone in my class and it absolutely sucked not having anyone to compete with. Regardless I had a fellow competitor running the same heat as me in his awesome blue Corvette Grand Sport, Ron Dotts. If I remember correctly he ended up finishing about 2 tenths of a second ahead of me, we were pretty close. I took home 1st place STX and PAX on Saturday, which felt good, but again a lot of the big hitters were not there. The DC Pro was the same weekend.
And now on to day 2 my friend Mike came up with his WRX that I had setup for STX. He had a new front swaybar on the car and was really talking highly of it. The day started out pretty quick again. I didn't have to change car setup all weekend, it was ideal. I ended up coming in 1st STX but 2nd PAX to an F125 shifter kart, so not a bad take for the weekend. Mike finished about 1.5 seconds behind me. He's still awaiting some power mods to make up some ground.
So then what did I take away from the weekend? Well for one I was doing some new camera positioning. I knew I was off the cones, but holy cow I didn't realize how far. I need to focus much more on my line and getting close to those stinking cones. I can't plan on winning large events if the car runs a foot wide through every single gate. The course was pretty quick. I was datalogging this weekend. Top speed on day 2 ended up being 63mph at the end of the first slalom. My 0-60 time at the start, which was in a slalom btw ended up turning a 6.6 seconds. Not too bad imo for possibly loosing some traction in the back and forth of the slalom. One of these days I'll log it on the street and see what it is.
I leave you with some photos, and a video showing 2 different camera angles on Sunday. The results have not been posted yet, but I will update as soon as I see them. Enjoy!
6/26/2010 ASCC SCCA Autocross, Hershey Giant's Center
Well this was certainly a busy weekend. Saturday day 1 I headed down to do battle at the Hershey Giant's Center with the Susquehanna SCCA club. The course was the tightest I had been on so far with the WRX. I was extremely pleased with how the car worked and you really were able to handle it through the tight slaloms well. I am still fighting to try and get a little more off throttle rotation. I'm thinking of trying a slightly stiffer then stock rear swaybar to achieve this but I am extremely concerned about developing traction problems after doing so.
I ended the day in 1st place STX by a margin, not sure on PAX I did not stick around.
6/27/2010 NEPA SCCA Autocross, Wyoming Valley Mall
So Sunday I went to my home region for the first time since the start of the season. I love how tight and technical these courses usually are. Again the car worked well. Since the corners were so tight the WRX really dropped off the face of the planet powerband wise. It took most of the straight portions just to get going again. Reguardless we set some really fast times and beat the ST Civic guys, so I considered that a win lol.
I happened to cone my last run away, which honestly I think would have taken PAX. But I was happy coming away with a 1st STX and 3rd PAX finish.
7/10/2010 - 7/11/2010 SCCA Fingerlakes National Tour
Alright finally the National I have been waiting all year for was here. I thought the car was up to 100% and went into the event feeling very well after looking at the entry list. Boy was I wrong. Saturday we went out there and absolutely sucked. We got to the lot late Saturday morning, did not get to walk the course again and had to get the car ready to go out and run 1st heat which started off at 9AM. What a rush around. The car felt ok, but we just could not get the course down in out head. DNF'd on run 1, run 2 was very dirty, and finally put down a somewhat clean run 3 to bring home 4th position on day 1. Absolutely disgusted.
So then along comes Sunday, we get our course walks in and are very happy and optimistic going into day 2. The car definitely felt it was there, we felt better about the course and started off to a much faster but still dirty pace. I would have to stand on my run 2 time unfortuneately. I tipped a cone coming through the final set of slaloms into the finish and threw away a 2 second faster run. A run so awesome it would have taken the overall win in the class.
So final results looked like this, a ringer Honda Civic in 1st, BMW 330 coming up in 2nd, and I brought up 3rd with a PAX time of 107 out of 247 competitors. Pretty piss poor performance if you ask me. Anyway I leave you with some media to mull over hahah.
So took the car over to Numidia Dragway today to run the 1/4 mile. I'm not a huge fan of drag racing and honestly after 3 runs had enough to last me for a year. Car was not producing target boost at the track, not really sure what the issue was there but was damn sure annoying. 1st and 2nd gear were great but 3rd and 4th were lugging along for some reason. Car was producing 14lbs when the map was made for 16. Who knows. It made 16 on the way home, but only going up hills with more load on the engine. Maybe more preload on the wastegate? Not sure.
Made 3 passes. 1st and 3rd pass were 13.9's, tried shifting early on run 2 and ended up in the 14's. Have to get a real tune on this thing asap. So annoying not making full power, and didn't even break into 100mph club.
Anyway best run, disappointed as usual,
60 ft - 1.928
330ft - 5.731
1/8 mi - 8.922 @ 77.44mph
1000ft - 11.634
1/4mi - 13.949 @ 97.24mph
7/25/2010 Susquehanna SCCA Autocross, Farm Show Complex
So here we are, one of my absolute favorite lots to race on, the PA State Farm Show Complex. Super smooth surface, very fast speeds and really nice courses. The weather started out boiling on this day. Heat 2 came around when we ran and it was perfect. Got all of our runs in and I was stoked to win STX. Unfortuneately by the end of the day I would no longer be winning STX.
Heat 3 got their first runs in, then it started to pour, and by pour I mean Hail and Lightning. The event was called and through someone's genius mind they decided to only count first runs for the entire field of car. So my first run wasn't the greatest and I was awarded a second place finish. Very unhappy about that, and all could have been avoided if this stubborn region would just run by class instead of whenever you want. Oh well, just messes up my points situation down there slightly.
So after talking with AMR Engineering for a month or so, we decided to throw a set of his coilovers onto the car and see what we thought of them. I had great success using his products on the Saturn and always liked the build quality and damping I got from them. I would be using the same spring rates as the old Koni/Ground Control setup, but this time I'd have 2 way adjustment of the ride height and there would be preload on the springs.
I will post my thoughts after the autocross Sunday.
Alright again were back at Central PA Region at the Mid-State Airport. This would be the first event running on the new AMR Engineering Coilovers, with 550lb Front and 500lb Rear Eibach ERS Springs. I only had a day or so to drive on the coilovers before the event but my initial impressions were extremely good. The ride quality was spot on, much better over the limited travel of the old Koni/Ground Control setup. The car was slightly lower but it was well off the bumpstops now. The ride was not harsh and the damping felt spot on.
So I got out on my first run and immediately noticed just how much different the car was driving on course. I was able to get it rotating and turning with the throttle like I had been wishing for half a year. After run 2 I was playing with damping slightly and got the rear end to work even better. I was doing things on this course that I was never able to do before and it gave me a great deal of confidence pushing it around this course. So far I was in love.
What sealed the deal for me was the final results for the day. I took the STX victory, but there wasn't really anybody else in class that day, what I was thrilled about was taking the top PAX Index time, and putting the car in 4th overall RAW time. This was an achievment at this event with some other top cars and competitors. I could not be happier how the first event went with the new shocks. I think the Koni's might just be up for sale very shortly.
8/15/2010 Northeast PA SCCA Autocross, Schuylkill Mall
So here I am on a nice Sunday morning before an autocross, weather is looking pretty nice and all is well. We get the course setup and then all of a sudden, whamo, RAIN! This was going to be an interesting day to say the least. I was actually kind of relieved as I have never ran this car in the rain before, and was extremely excited to run it in the rain with my new found rotating WRX.
The day went off without a hitch and we had a blast. The car was incredibly quick, so quick you almost forgot all about the rain. I also had fun with the slew of passengers who wanted to ride along. I was being called an amusement part ride by the end of the day hahah.
Even more satisfying about the day, was taking home the entire event!! Yes, STX, RAW, and PAX all went to me. Couldn't ask for anything more. Especially beating the civic on this little lot. hahah
8/29/2010 Philadelphia SCCA Autocross, Warminster Community Park
Ok Philly Region, first time making it down here all year. Always enjoy heading down because of the great drivers and competition. This event did not disappoint. I also had a co-driver for this one. One of his tires had corded from street driving and being the nice guy I am offered up my car. He had let me start the season in his WRX so it was the least I could do. He was also curious how the shocks felt compared to what was on his car and some other things.
Immediately out of the box we were spot on. The course was super fast, lots of transition and the setup was perfect from the start. We made one slight pressure change in the rear to get a little more rotation but that was about it. In the end I brought home the STX win by almost exactly 4 seconds. Co-driver ended up in 3rd about 6 seconds behind. Was kind of disappointed to see that. He did like the car though. I also finished 4th PAX which was outstanding to me.
8/24/2010 Pioneer Double DIN + Polk, Alpine and Kicker Install
So you guys know me by now, I like car audio and this car wasn't going to be any different. I loved the double din setup in the WRX from the start, makes for a real nice factory looking setup with a nice lcd and what not. I also wasn't 100% happy with the factory underseat subwoofer though either, so that had to be removed. I still had the 3 channel Kicker amp sitting around from the coupe so I decided to use it. 70W RMSx2 for the front speakers and 420W RMS for the sub, perfect with a neat install.
I used the same Polk Components I had in the coupe as well. Replacing the factory tweeters in the doors as well. I had to use some speaker spacers from IA Performance, they worked great. Could have made them myself, but honestly didn't feel like it so just bought their kit. Was glad I did. The install went very smoothly. Check it out.
Factory splice harness for the factory sub, that would be gone.
IA Performance Spacers and Tweeter Install in Factory Location
10" Alpine Type-R in Audio Integrations Form Fit Box for WRX
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