My track built STI project (56k Death)
01-27-2005, 02:28 AM
#1
My track built STI project (56k Death)
This article is way over due.
1st day: Before it left the dealership, some Advan RC II's were slapped on.
17X8.5 (+45) w/ Falken Azenis sport treads.
1st track day: Sears Point/Infineon Raceway with Cusco swaybars and strut tower braces.
Ice gets installed. BTW, this complete setup is for sale. PM me if interested.
Track day at ThunderHill: Video of Adam chasing Modded Evo.
http://www.subydude.com/video/video_dump/the_chase.wmv
Next was Defi BF gauges, Recaro Speed 5 seats, and Toyo RA-1 tires (235/40/17) Carbotech Panther Plus pads and STI stainless lines for track days.
These seats hold you much better than stock and are way more comfy. They also are built for 5 point Harnesses. Oh yeah, R compound tires rock... Tires make all the difference in handling, IMHO, more than suspension.
New wheels for the street, was tired of brake dust. Full tint was done, 35 all around.
Thanks to Subydude for the wheels. Rota Tarmac 2 17" Gunmetallic.
Bigger street treads: Rota Torque 17x8 with 245's. Thanks again to Subydude
North Bay drive, a farwell to STIZZLE. Scary to watch your friend roll his STI infront of you. Nick is a lucky kid.
1st PowerMod: K&N Typhoon Intake. I drove down to Riverside California, the home of K&N Engineering. Superstreet Magazine was doing a tech/install article on the new intake for the STI. They baseline dyno'd my car, intalled the intake, and then dyno'd the car again. In 100+degree weather, 14Hp gain and 12ft/lbs was gained. The tech article can be found in Super Street, October 2004.
2nd Power Mod: DC sports Catback Exhaust. Great finnish/fitment with stainless flex joint, mates up to stock downpipe or aftermarket, has a great suby rumble without being too loud. Got to test this out as a tech article. Link to I-club review.
https://www.i-club.com/forums/latest-i-club-reviews-features-articles-74/dc-sports-wrx-sti-single-canister-exhaust-system-review-76065/
Later the DC Sports Headers/up-pipe were added and the catback was mated to a Helix catless downpipe. Later the Headers,up-pipe, and part of the downpipe were thermal wrapped. (Thanks to Stan) Damn, this thing is crazy loud now. So loud, that I got kicked off the track at Laguna Seca Raceway in December.
David(track pit crew) installing the Downpipe, thanks dude.
We installed a Greddy Trust Oil cooler behind the drivers side fog light cover to keep the engine oil temps cooler on track days. Getting flogged at Sears and Thunderhill brought about temps of 140+ degrees celcius in stock form. The oil cooler brought the temps down to a max of 120 Celcius. Thanks to Imprezer for the help. I will be modding the fog light covers with screens soon. This will allow air in for the oil cooler and intake, as well as providing protection. If you look close to the first pic. you can see the Whiteline steering rack bushings installed. Upon replacing the stock ones at 15K miles, one of them was worn in two pieces. The Hardened bushings improve turn in response and eliminate the chatter feel under hard cornering.
The Subframe was also deleted at this time and a spec-c (GC8) cross brace was installed. This involved cutting of some tabs.
STI struts are cursed with the clunk. Mine began around 12K miles in the drivers rear strut. The Passenger rear soon followed. It feels like the strut has some serious stiction at top-out. Cusco 02R's replaced the stock struts with 12kilogram springs in the front and 10kilogram springs in the rear. Funny, they ride better than stock sprinks (7kg/5kg). I think the heavier springs are a much better match for the dampning.
Cusco hardened tranny and engine mounts were installed.
At idle, the whole car vibrates like crazy with the lull of the boxer engine.
Feels like a racecar now.
I sold the Advan RCII's and replaced them with Volk CE28N's, 17X8.5 (+44) wrapped with Toyo RA1's 255/40/17. Whoa there grip. I am sure my weel bearings will suffer some life span, but it is worth the added grip. Link to original thread with info on cutting the fenders: https://www.i-club.com/forums/ongoing-projects-31/new-shoes-huge-tread-beast-pics-73207/
You can also see in the pics the Project Mu Rotors that were installed. They are slotted and dimpled. For the street, I ran the Project Mu Type NS street pad. They are quiet, make very little brake dust, and provide better stopping power than the stock pads. They are not a track pad as I found out by killing the front pads in two track days and the North Coast Redwood Rally. I changed out to the Project Mu Titan Kai pads. They are the highest level race pad. They provide intense stopping power, not that much dust, and bearable noise as they heat up. On the street, amazingly they have good cold stopping power.
It was time to properly strap myself into the car, protect myself, and lighten things up a bit. A Sparco Evo seat, Sparco 5 point camlock harness, Safety 21 8 point rollcage, interior strip, a/c delete, JDM front bumper beam, subframe delete, rear bumper beam delete is where the STI is currently. A sparco 533mm steering wheel was swapped for the stocker and the passenger airbag was removed as well. You just can see in the second pic, the gold STI pedal set. The gas pedal has an angle adjustment which is very nice for heel/toe and it has a tab that makes the gas closer to the brake pedal. Oh yeah, they look nicer than the stock ones do.
After removing the center console around the shifter, I needed to relocate the DCCD controls. I 3M taped the Defi Control unit into the stock pocket, and then slid the two DCCD buttons on either side. This required extending some wires to reach. This location is far more user friendly, and frankly, a safer location for those who like to use their controls regularly. It almost looks oem, to me.
Your Fearless Leader (Imprezer) hooking up sensors on Vishnu's Dyno for the Race gas tune. I Installed a Spearco intercooler, Koyo radiator, and Cusco oil catch can, which can be seen in the picture. The intercooler is dramatically cooler when pulling off the track now. No more oil in the intake, intercooler and beyond. Water temps stay much cooler now. All of the cooling improvements and the Thermal wrap on the piping have dramatically dropped the engine bay temps.
Shiv (Vishnu Tuning) hard at work. The car baselined at 257whp with mods. Tuned on 100 octane, it made 306 whp and 315ft/lbs of torque, on a stock turbo.
Big thanks Shiv, it pulls like a V8. The thing doesn't even feel like it has a turbo. No head whip, it just puts you in the seat and holds you there.
Finally, the last pieces of my suspension showed up. Cusco adjustable Trailing arms and lateral links. They are full pillowball (or "pirroball" on the packaging). I also replaced all of the front and rear suspension bushings with Cusco pillowball mounts. This is the most impressive suspension mod.....They make the suspension 10X more effective. There is no preload on the suspension due to bushings which allows you to properly tune the suspension. Everything just floats. The rear end does not get bucked when hitting the rumble strips at speed. They are not for the faint of heart. They are loud and transmit vibration. On the other hand, they also smooth the ride.
For street use, the STI upgraded bushing would be more durable and comfortable.
-Pics to come of the Pillowball mounts, trailing arms, and lateral links.
Getting installed currently: Adam of LIC motorsports removed the tranny and rear diff on 1/24/05. It is currently being rebuilt with the JDM 5/6th gear combo. All necessary syncros and parts are getting replaced as well- Pics soon to come of rebuild.
The stock clutch, recently began to slip with the new power provided by Vishnu, will be replaced by a Cusco Twin Plate Carbon Clutch. Also adding a STI stainless clutch line and replacing the clutch slave cylinder with a 02' for better clutch response.
Upon draining the rear diff for removal, we discovered a large amount of metal pieces on the magnetic drain plug. It turned out the diff plate had shattered and the rear mechanical diff had become an open diff. It had sounded pretty bad at the last track events. Amazingly, the car still drove like a madman. Thankfully I was ready with a Cusco 1.5 way RS rear diff and a 1 way front diff to replace the stock components.
Thanks to Mike at Gruppe-S for setting up the rebuild of the tranny and diffs.
-Pics soon to come of diff rebuilds
Parts to be installed:
STI rear diff bushing plate
Whiteline Urethane Outrigger bushings
STI Spec C Ti strutbar
Future plans:
Cusco GT 3D Wing
Cusco Front Lip and underpan Diffuser
Well, I am sure I forgot a few things. I will be doing a more detailed write up on all of the parts as I get more testing done. Pics of the tranny rebuild, diff rebuilds, and suspension to come soon. Feel free to hit me up with any ?'s you might have. I will do my best to get you an answer in a timely fashion. Oh yeah, and if you want a ride at the track, I did add a passenger seat.
Special thanks to:
Imprezer
Adam and Noah of Lic Motorsports
Bozz Performance
Stan the Yeewok
Subydude
David "mohawk" Wheaton
Shiv and Vishnu
Mike and Gruppe-S
American International Motorsports
CTI Distributing- Thanks Geoff u bastarrrrd
Dependable Tire
North Bay backroad crew
The whole BAIC
Big props to anyone I have forgotten, it's 4am as I finish this.
-Kevin
1st day: Before it left the dealership, some Advan RC II's were slapped on.
17X8.5 (+45) w/ Falken Azenis sport treads.
1st track day: Sears Point/Infineon Raceway with Cusco swaybars and strut tower braces.
Ice gets installed. BTW, this complete setup is for sale. PM me if interested.
Track day at ThunderHill: Video of Adam chasing Modded Evo.
http://www.subydude.com/video/video_dump/the_chase.wmv
Next was Defi BF gauges, Recaro Speed 5 seats, and Toyo RA-1 tires (235/40/17) Carbotech Panther Plus pads and STI stainless lines for track days.
These seats hold you much better than stock and are way more comfy. They also are built for 5 point Harnesses. Oh yeah, R compound tires rock... Tires make all the difference in handling, IMHO, more than suspension.
New wheels for the street, was tired of brake dust. Full tint was done, 35 all around.
Thanks to Subydude for the wheels. Rota Tarmac 2 17" Gunmetallic.
Bigger street treads: Rota Torque 17x8 with 245's. Thanks again to Subydude
North Bay drive, a farwell to STIZZLE. Scary to watch your friend roll his STI infront of you. Nick is a lucky kid.
1st PowerMod: K&N Typhoon Intake. I drove down to Riverside California, the home of K&N Engineering. Superstreet Magazine was doing a tech/install article on the new intake for the STI. They baseline dyno'd my car, intalled the intake, and then dyno'd the car again. In 100+degree weather, 14Hp gain and 12ft/lbs was gained. The tech article can be found in Super Street, October 2004.
2nd Power Mod: DC sports Catback Exhaust. Great finnish/fitment with stainless flex joint, mates up to stock downpipe or aftermarket, has a great suby rumble without being too loud. Got to test this out as a tech article. Link to I-club review.
https://www.i-club.com/forums/latest-i-club-reviews-features-articles-74/dc-sports-wrx-sti-single-canister-exhaust-system-review-76065/
Later the DC Sports Headers/up-pipe were added and the catback was mated to a Helix catless downpipe. Later the Headers,up-pipe, and part of the downpipe were thermal wrapped. (Thanks to Stan) Damn, this thing is crazy loud now. So loud, that I got kicked off the track at Laguna Seca Raceway in December.
David(track pit crew) installing the Downpipe, thanks dude.
We installed a Greddy Trust Oil cooler behind the drivers side fog light cover to keep the engine oil temps cooler on track days. Getting flogged at Sears and Thunderhill brought about temps of 140+ degrees celcius in stock form. The oil cooler brought the temps down to a max of 120 Celcius. Thanks to Imprezer for the help. I will be modding the fog light covers with screens soon. This will allow air in for the oil cooler and intake, as well as providing protection. If you look close to the first pic. you can see the Whiteline steering rack bushings installed. Upon replacing the stock ones at 15K miles, one of them was worn in two pieces. The Hardened bushings improve turn in response and eliminate the chatter feel under hard cornering.
The Subframe was also deleted at this time and a spec-c (GC8) cross brace was installed. This involved cutting of some tabs.
STI struts are cursed with the clunk. Mine began around 12K miles in the drivers rear strut. The Passenger rear soon followed. It feels like the strut has some serious stiction at top-out. Cusco 02R's replaced the stock struts with 12kilogram springs in the front and 10kilogram springs in the rear. Funny, they ride better than stock sprinks (7kg/5kg). I think the heavier springs are a much better match for the dampning.
Cusco hardened tranny and engine mounts were installed.
At idle, the whole car vibrates like crazy with the lull of the boxer engine.
Feels like a racecar now.
I sold the Advan RCII's and replaced them with Volk CE28N's, 17X8.5 (+44) wrapped with Toyo RA1's 255/40/17. Whoa there grip. I am sure my weel bearings will suffer some life span, but it is worth the added grip. Link to original thread with info on cutting the fenders: https://www.i-club.com/forums/ongoing-projects-31/new-shoes-huge-tread-beast-pics-73207/
You can also see in the pics the Project Mu Rotors that were installed. They are slotted and dimpled. For the street, I ran the Project Mu Type NS street pad. They are quiet, make very little brake dust, and provide better stopping power than the stock pads. They are not a track pad as I found out by killing the front pads in two track days and the North Coast Redwood Rally. I changed out to the Project Mu Titan Kai pads. They are the highest level race pad. They provide intense stopping power, not that much dust, and bearable noise as they heat up. On the street, amazingly they have good cold stopping power.
It was time to properly strap myself into the car, protect myself, and lighten things up a bit. A Sparco Evo seat, Sparco 5 point camlock harness, Safety 21 8 point rollcage, interior strip, a/c delete, JDM front bumper beam, subframe delete, rear bumper beam delete is where the STI is currently. A sparco 533mm steering wheel was swapped for the stocker and the passenger airbag was removed as well. You just can see in the second pic, the gold STI pedal set. The gas pedal has an angle adjustment which is very nice for heel/toe and it has a tab that makes the gas closer to the brake pedal. Oh yeah, they look nicer than the stock ones do.
After removing the center console around the shifter, I needed to relocate the DCCD controls. I 3M taped the Defi Control unit into the stock pocket, and then slid the two DCCD buttons on either side. This required extending some wires to reach. This location is far more user friendly, and frankly, a safer location for those who like to use their controls regularly. It almost looks oem, to me.
Your Fearless Leader (Imprezer) hooking up sensors on Vishnu's Dyno for the Race gas tune. I Installed a Spearco intercooler, Koyo radiator, and Cusco oil catch can, which can be seen in the picture. The intercooler is dramatically cooler when pulling off the track now. No more oil in the intake, intercooler and beyond. Water temps stay much cooler now. All of the cooling improvements and the Thermal wrap on the piping have dramatically dropped the engine bay temps.
Shiv (Vishnu Tuning) hard at work. The car baselined at 257whp with mods. Tuned on 100 octane, it made 306 whp and 315ft/lbs of torque, on a stock turbo.
Big thanks Shiv, it pulls like a V8. The thing doesn't even feel like it has a turbo. No head whip, it just puts you in the seat and holds you there.
Finally, the last pieces of my suspension showed up. Cusco adjustable Trailing arms and lateral links. They are full pillowball (or "pirroball" on the packaging). I also replaced all of the front and rear suspension bushings with Cusco pillowball mounts. This is the most impressive suspension mod.....They make the suspension 10X more effective. There is no preload on the suspension due to bushings which allows you to properly tune the suspension. Everything just floats. The rear end does not get bucked when hitting the rumble strips at speed. They are not for the faint of heart. They are loud and transmit vibration. On the other hand, they also smooth the ride.
For street use, the STI upgraded bushing would be more durable and comfortable.
-Pics to come of the Pillowball mounts, trailing arms, and lateral links.
Getting installed currently: Adam of LIC motorsports removed the tranny and rear diff on 1/24/05. It is currently being rebuilt with the JDM 5/6th gear combo. All necessary syncros and parts are getting replaced as well- Pics soon to come of rebuild.
The stock clutch, recently began to slip with the new power provided by Vishnu, will be replaced by a Cusco Twin Plate Carbon Clutch. Also adding a STI stainless clutch line and replacing the clutch slave cylinder with a 02' for better clutch response.
Upon draining the rear diff for removal, we discovered a large amount of metal pieces on the magnetic drain plug. It turned out the diff plate had shattered and the rear mechanical diff had become an open diff. It had sounded pretty bad at the last track events. Amazingly, the car still drove like a madman. Thankfully I was ready with a Cusco 1.5 way RS rear diff and a 1 way front diff to replace the stock components.
Thanks to Mike at Gruppe-S for setting up the rebuild of the tranny and diffs.
-Pics soon to come of diff rebuilds
Parts to be installed:
STI rear diff bushing plate
Whiteline Urethane Outrigger bushings
STI Spec C Ti strutbar
Future plans:
Cusco GT 3D Wing
Cusco Front Lip and underpan Diffuser
Well, I am sure I forgot a few things. I will be doing a more detailed write up on all of the parts as I get more testing done. Pics of the tranny rebuild, diff rebuilds, and suspension to come soon. Feel free to hit me up with any ?'s you might have. I will do my best to get you an answer in a timely fashion. Oh yeah, and if you want a ride at the track, I did add a passenger seat.
Special thanks to:
Imprezer
Adam and Noah of Lic Motorsports
Bozz Performance
Stan the Yeewok
Subydude
David "mohawk" Wheaton
Shiv and Vishnu
Mike and Gruppe-S
American International Motorsports
CTI Distributing- Thanks Geoff u bastarrrrd
Dependable Tire
North Bay backroad crew
The whole BAIC
Big props to anyone I have forgotten, it's 4am as I finish this.
-Kevin
Last edited by wrexr; 02-02-2005 at 01:54 AM.
01-27-2005, 04:47 AM
#2
Registered User
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Blackhawk, CA
Posts: 439
Car Info: 996 Turbo,Gallardo,BMW 335,125cc shifter kart,etc
Geezz...i feel sorry for any dial-up users 
Glad we could help out with the car!
Shiv
________
VAPOR GENIE VAPORIZER
Glad we could help out with the car!
Shiv
________
VAPOR GENIE VAPORIZER
Last edited by Vishnu; 03-07-2011 at 05:32 AM.
01-27-2005, 08:29 AM
#3
VIP Member
iTrader: (4)
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Marin - www.PachecoRanchWinery.com
Posts: 1,888
Car Info: 00 BRP RS LIC'd 01 EJ207 + non DCCD 6 Speed
Very, very nice. I can attest to how solid this car is, and it has a ton more mods now than it did when I got a ride....thats one hell of a car you've build Kev.
Last edited by EndlessWaltz RS; 01-27-2005 at 08:32 AM.
