Almost There September 21, 2006
Wednesday was the tuning day. Unfortunately I’ve got some kind of fueling problem that prevents the car from idling properly or running well at low RPMs so it’s back at Apex Automotive awaiting new injectors that will hopefully cure the problem. On the positive side, she put down 338whp / 323wtq after being on the dyno for some 3+ hours. And that dyno is a Mustang, generally considered one of the lower-reading dynos in the AWD community.
On the street she’s rough down lown but once the revs are up and the engine starts acting right she goes like stink in a crowded elevator.
And here’s a video from one of the early dyno pulls:
If you’ve never stood next to a car being dyno’d, lemme tell you, it’s freaking loud! And this is a relatively quiet no-boost run. Next time I’ll bring my shooting earplugs.
Build Progress September 14, 2006
Monster Build Kick-off September 8, 2006
Monday morning I’ll be dropping off the Saabaru to begin the engine build. Here’s the short list of parts:
Subaru 2.5L STi Shortblock
Blouch Turbo Ported TD06H-20G
Helix RNA Camshafts w/ Titanium Valvetrain Package
Deatschwerks 750cc Injectors
Walbro Fuel Pump
Perrin Turbo Inlet (Blue)
Samco Radiator And Ancillary Hoses (Blue)
Perrin Electronic Boost Control Solenoid
Gruppe-S Exhaust Manifold (Headers)
WBR Front Mount Intercooler Kit
WBR Cold Air Intake
USDM 5MT Transmission w/ Rallispec “Type STi” Gearset (Cryotreated / Microfinished)
OBX Limited Slip Differential (Front)
ACT “Stage 1″ Organic Clutch
ACT Lightweight Flywheel (sub-14lbs)
The timing is perfect since Japtrix has one of the top Subaru tuners in the country coming down the following week. The tranny is a last-minute addition to the line-up, Jose called me last weekend offering to sell his “spare” tranny and sweetened the deal by offering to install a front differential for free (a laborious task). And the clutch, well, my OE clutch is slipping badly after just ~33K miles. With this build projected to make at least 350whp it has become clear than an upgrade was needed. Being organic it should still slip easily for gentle on-boost launches, which is very important since the STi gears are tough but not indestructible. Hopefully it will last until I can afford a set of no-reported-breakages-ever PPG gears.
Today I also signed up for the upcoming Evolution Autocross School (Evo School) coming up at the end of the month in Fort Myers. Studying my in-car videos from the last event I see that there’s still a lot of room for me to improve, so a day filled with instructor ride-alongs is probably exactly what I need. The downside to attending an all-day school is that it’s hell on tires so I picked up a cheap set of used Kumho Ecsta V700s just for this day. I’ll be borrowing Jorge’s spare wheels to mount them on, and the tires actually look like they’ve got quite a bit more life left in them than I expected, so Jorge ought to get a few events out of them after they’ve served my purpose.
And my hotel room is booked for the Subaru Challenge in Gainesville. Have the preceding day off so I can take my time driving up there. Was also going to sign up for the Atlanta event but they literally announced that is was cancelled due to lack of registrants just minutes before. Oh well. I’m registered in Street Modified but now with the FMIC I’m technically not elligible (most Subaru FMICs use a replacement bumper beam which is disallowed in SM) and would have to go in E Modified or F Prepared instead. The Pastelito guys tell me not to worry about it, there will probably be others illegally running front-mounts, but… while EM and FP are generally classes that a streetable car can’t be competitive in, at a Subaru event I’ve got a somewhat level playing field. There are much fewer EM entrants than SM, I beat one of the EM guys at the last event (and he ran after the course was dry!), and my car will probably be better prepared than any of them.
The next two months are looking very exciting. Sadly, I’ll be missing the next two ER autocrosses — the September event falls between my build and tune dates, and the October event is the day after the Challenge (I’m not going to drive straight home after the event, better to stay an extra day and leave well-rested). But I will be at Mazda’s Zoom Zoom Live event tomorrow, and the local Porsche club is putting on an event at the Bank Atlantic Center the weekend following the challenge, so that should more than make up for what I’ll be missing.
August September 2, 2006
The day before the August ER event I got the Kumho V710s mounted on the new wheels, raised the coilover ride-height about an inch, installed camber bolts in the rear, got an alignment, switched the front swaybar from “soft” to “hard”, and installed some 4-pot front brake calipers from an ‘06 WRX.
With the tires I had to move from Street Touring X to E Street Prepared, where some > 300HP stock V8 pony cars live. Not the greatest place for a 227HP stock wagon. Luckily it rained. I had a commanding lead after the second and third runs, but in the end an Mustang Cobra beat by my best time by 0.166 seconds. I was so excited when it looked like I’d take 1st, but even 2nd ain’t that bad — it was my first time “in the trophies” at an ER autocross.
In-car video of my final and best run. What’s most noteworthy about it is the complete lack of drama. No squealing tires. No push-understeer going into turns, almost no power-understeer coming out. I even had a tiny bit of lift oversteer going on. The suspension adjustments certainly helped but mostly it’s the tires.
Run #1, run #2, #3 wasn’t recorded due to user error.
