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04-24-2018, 03:48 PM | #26 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 163648
Join Date: Nov 2007
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Xona 78•64 UHF
Vehicle:2002 WRX V9 6mt R180 Brembos |
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04-28-2018, 08:15 PM | #27 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
First event with this setup in the books, didn't go horribly, nothing broke, my driving is rusty at best, tires rubbed too much, I've definitely got some more suspension / alignment work to do, but it was very fun to be out playing again.
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04-28-2018, 09:44 PM | #28 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 322188
Join Date: Jun 2012
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Kansas
Vehicle:05 STi/06 FXT CGM/RBP |
Very nice build so far.
Do you have rear camber plates on the coilovers? I think that would help you gain some inboard clearance and camber. Good luck with the rest of your build and season! |
04-28-2018, 09:53 PM | #29 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
Not at the moment, but they are on their way, along with some better coilovers (fortune 510s) / stiffer springs (10k). Unfortunately, I'll probably have to impatiently wait 2 or 3 more weeks before they arrive though.
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05-16-2018, 07:09 PM | #30 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
2nd low key event in the books a couple weekends ago. I reduced the caster a bit and increased front camber to 3.75, no more rubbing up front. No change in the back yet, but new coilovers with rear camber plates and stiffer springs are on the way. Car felt good but I didn't drive overly well.
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05-16-2018, 11:43 PM | #31 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 485855
Join Date: May 2018
Location: North Jersey
Vehicle:2002 WRX Black |
Sub'd
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05-17-2018, 09:55 AM | #32 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 432253
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: The Lone Star State
Vehicle:2018 WRX-Package 12 Pure Red |
Always...
...love it when a plan comes together successfully.
There is a certain grace to these wagons. Watching future progress. |
07-13-2018, 05:04 PM | #33 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
Quick version of month or two of updates...
- Finally installed the r180 and the whiteline adjustable control arms that I've had sitting around uninstalled for years. Currently running roughly zero toe in the rear and 1.8 degrees camber on both sides. - Picked up some Fortune Auto 510s with 10k swift springs and adjustable camber plates front and back from Cygnus Performance. Even though the springs are stiffer the ride quality on our crappy Chicago streets are noticeably better than the old BC were. - Went out for another fun local autoX, things wen't okay but I wasn't happy with the balance (or lack there of), went a touch too low in the rear with the new coilovers and am still encountering rear tire rubbing. Additionally it got fairly warm in the afternoon, IATs got pretty high and it felt like the ECU pulled quite a bit of timing after a few runs. I need to get serious about fabbing something so that my hood scoop blows on my IC better and I need to get back into the habit of spraying my IC between runs. I should also get more serious about the standalone / flex fuel ideas. - I got my hands on some corner scales, haven't change anything yet but I did get a quick baseline and it's about as bad as it felt: *with 1/2 tank of gas and my 209 lbs in the driver seat Last edited by tracknerd; 07-15-2018 at 06:23 PM. |
07-15-2018, 04:13 PM | #34 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
I played with the scales a bit, got cross weights even (still with 1/2 tank of gas and me in the driver's seat), most adjustments were made in the rear to add height and reduce rubbing while I was at it.
This was my first time corner balancing, the amount of time required and number of adjust / reweigh iterations was definitely more than I expected. It'll be a couple weeks before I can get out and play again, I'm very curious to see if / how much better the balance will feel. Last edited by tracknerd; 07-15-2018 at 06:26 PM. |
07-15-2018, 05:15 PM | #35 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 175624
Join Date: Mar 2008
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Wichita, KS
Vehicle:0304 WRX WRX SY WRB |
Your last 2 pics aren't showing up.
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07-15-2018, 06:27 PM | #36 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
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07-28-2018, 04:32 PM | #37 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
Unexpected cross roads: light weight vs tires
Now that I've got weight info for the car, with the weight being lower than I expected, I can't help but think about future wheel/tire plans vs weight reduction. Current SM rules require a minimum of 1800 lbs + (300 lbs * (2.5 + 1.4) or 2970 lbs for wide tires or 2770 lbs if I stick with 275s. Current driverless weight is roughly 2973.
I had planned on eventually going super wide on tires some day when I eventually get slicks. However, I already have all of the parts needed to fab up an aluminum exhaust that will shave at least 20 lbs compared to my current reasonably nice sounding but very heavy SRS cat-back. I also currently only have one of my race seats installed, the other seat being the stock limited (heated / leather) seat. Just doing the things that I already have in motion will put me well under minimum weight for wider tires. Which leaves me substantially tempted to shoot for the 2770 lb mark instead. Current weight saving thoughts include:
All of that would add up to non trivial amounts of weight, but probably no where anywhere near the full 216 lbs or so allowed. Anything else legal that I'm missing? The more important question however, which path would perform better and/or actually be more fun to drive? |
09-11-2018, 12:00 PM | #38 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
A few weeks ago I wired in a DCCDpro (and started the wiring for a stand alone ecu). I also swapped in an 05 sti gauge cluster before realizing that my DCCDpro didn't actually have the outputs for for the cluster or have a way to add them without sending it back in.
Last weekend was the final event of the year for my favorite local auto-x group. Played with the DCCDpro quite a bit, it seriously changes the car's behavior, even more than I expected. I wish I'd done it sooner. Here's the course from last weekend: Even with a boat load of runs, I couldn't quite string together a lap without little mistakes here and there and it took me over half the day before I found where I wanted the dccd set, but here's my best of the day: Last edited by tracknerd; 01-19-2020 at 11:59 PM. |
10-30-2018, 12:25 AM | #39 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
Not directly a build update, due to the need to clear up some space to slowly build up my spare 2.5, I finally started tearing down my old 2.0 that was in the engine bay fire a couple years ago. It looks like the fire was just a blown cam seal puking oil directly on a nice hot header. Other than the cam seal and melted plastic bits, it actually all looks salvageable.
On the spare 2.5 front, I know that I should spend my time and money on better diffs, some basic aero and of course more seat time and I had only planned on a simple but stronger 400-ish wtq build possibly with w25 heads, but thanks to a few fun threads on here recently, I'm having a really hard time not compulsively thinking about bigger power. |
12-21-2018, 09:07 PM | #40 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
I finally discovered Virtual Dyno, I've got a million romraider logs laying around, got some pretty consistent numbers out of it, not sure how it actually stacks up to a real dyno. Fun to play with though and fun to put numbers to various iterations of my tune.
Last edited by tracknerd; 01-20-2020 at 12:02 AM. |
01-24-2020, 11:28 PM | #41 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
Busy year of life...
Life got busy and I haven't actually had time for the WRX much in the last year or so. In that time, I've started a few projects but haven't quite finished anything of note and I did zero driving events.
Past year highlights include: - Got the link G4+ mostly wired in, complete with an add on wiring harness including support for everything needed for AVCS, flex fuel and separate connectors to make switching back to the OEM ECU for street use fairly easy. I still have a sensor or two left to wire in, a couple wires to reroute / cleanup, then diving into my first adventure in stand alone tuning. - Cleaned up / relocated sensor modules and VSS / DCCD controllers: - Slowly stock piling parts to rebuild my spare short block as a closed deck +2 build. JE Stroker Pistons w/ tool steel wrist pins: Manly +2 rods with ARP 625+ cap bolts: - Bumped up my EWG springs a bit to 0.9 bar in preparation for a bit more boost when I get flex fuel going: - Welded in a solid dump tube (had crappy flex tubing that rusted out before). Definitely not my prettiest welds but the juxtaposition of an old ugly stainless MIG weld next to the new TIG welds is notable. That said, the MIG weld is 4 Chicago winters old now and holding up much better than I expected: Upcoming projects: - Higher current fuel pump wiring, w/ inertia switch - Walbro 450 with hydramat pickup - G4+ completion / tuning - Light weight cat back - ? |
01-26-2020, 02:15 PM | #42 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
Modulated fuel pump "hard wire".
Yesterday I wrapped up adding a hardwired-ish fuel pump supply. The positive side uses a standard hard wired relay setup, but the ground side goes through the OEM fuel control module, but with significantly increased wire sizing and shortened ground path.
Parts:
Time: About 2 hours for the final approach, but I took several detours and changed my mind several times on several details, so it took quite a bit longer. In retrospect, I should have just bought a relay and more wire instead of starting from the summit kit. I used an "add a circuit" fuse tap from fuse #13 for the keyed power because tapping into the keyed power to the control module indeed wasn't quite reading zero current at the relay with the key off (several other write ups / posts had mentioned this, but I was skeptical) and I was paranoid of draining my tiny battery. The constant 12V goes directly from the battery to the breaker, then through the firewall and joins the keyed power wire running along underneath the driver's side trim, then along the back seat bar to the relay that I stashed under the passenger side's backseat trim piece: The switched power and relay trigger wires run from the relay back to the inertia switch mounted near the passenger tail light: The ground wire for the fuel controller and the modulated ground wire from the controller to the fuel pump were both increased to 10 gauge, with fresh terminals. The positive out of the controller was de-pined, left unconnected and tucked away. The wires to the fuel tank connector follow the OEM path under the back seat and squeeze into the stock connector (very tight fit). The old terminals and wires are just electrical tapped out of the way for now. The factory connector isn't technically E85 compatible, so for the future I'm very tempted to use some bulkhead fittings instead but I'm not sure if there's actually a risk there or not as I think many have used it with E85 for years with out issues. With all the extra fuel that I'll eventually be flowing, I really like the idea of the inertia switch in case things every go horribly wrong. I gave it some pretty serious test thumps, plus have already hit a couple of ridiculous Chicago war zone potholes this morning that felt worse than a fender bender and it seems properly good at ignoring false positives but properly shuts off when it gets a hard enough impact. Last edited by tracknerd; 02-07-2020 at 10:17 PM. |
08-16-2020, 11:19 PM | #43 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
Time to stop the rust.
I had a rear wheel bearing go out and instead of simply replacing the bearing I got greedy and purchased wisefab drop knuckles all around.
The installation has had many detours, first due to information about the rears not mentioning that you can't use 02-06 WRX or my H6 brakes with them, or that they require different backing plates, or that the fronts require additional adapters to work with certain years of steer rack, or that random parts have been hard to acquire in covid times. I'll post more info on that some other day when they're actually all installed... The current detour is that in the process of installing them I found things have rusted quite a bit more in the past year than they had in previous years. - Things that are easily removable are getting thoroughly cleaned, lightly sanded, treated with rust converter and then painted with Rust-Oleum Enamel Spray. Part of me was tempted to just let the horse collar rust away as a natural weight reduction, but it does help define crumple zones, the responsible part of me won and killed that idea. - Things that I don't want to remove right now are getting thoroughly scrubbed with degreaser and then treated/painted with POR. - Rusty hardware is getting treated in rust remover. I experimented with several rust removal methods, most didn't work too well. Soaking in vinegar for 24 hours worked much better than I expected, but the clear winner was evaporust. I unfortunately didn't take before pics (they were really bad) or pics of the vinegar results before throwing them in some evaporust to finish the job. - I'm also replacing my rusty mesh ebay fog covers with some proper new covers, spray painted with PSM color match paint: |
09-15-2020, 07:46 PM | #44 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
Geometry corrected (rear)
I finally installed the wisefab knuckles, with more than a few detours.
I've always liked the simple H6 rear brake setup and the balance that they gave with slightly more aggressive pads paired with my stoptech ST-40, but these knuckles have the bolt spacing for Brembos or 2pots (unplanned expense number 1). Trying to keep costs somewhat low, I went with remanufactured 2 pots, but they were on covid backorder and stalled the project for a few months: They also required a different brake backing plate to fit around the larger bearings. I got some from an 04 sti, chopped off the dust shield and added a little extra paint / rust prevention: In retrospect, I really should have gotten backing plates from a newer WRX instead as the 04 sti requires a larger parking brake, so I had to get new/larger parking brake bits, and of course one of the lever arms was on indefinite covid back order and stalled the project even longer: The combination of 2 pots and 04 parking brake required special "gravel" brake rotors: I didn't get a good weight on the previous setup, but the total weight for the knuckles, modified backing plates, bearings and hub came out to 19lbs 7ozs, for any interested. Overall, they're nice, well made knuckles that shift the geometry quite a bit, but if I did it over again, I'd definitely find another option with easier to replace bolt on bearing / knuckles that don't require changing brakes. Flatirons Tuning were very helpful in tracking down the unexpected bits that I needed for this, including somehow finding one of the parking brake lever arms that was on indefinite back order from Subaru. Last edited by tracknerd; 09-15-2020 at 08:00 PM. |
09-15-2020, 10:37 PM | #45 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
Geometry corrected (front)
The fronts were less drama to install on my car than the rears were.
Initial install went as normal for any new knuckle: - Mount the bolt on bearing / hub then - Attach the strut - Attach ball joint The directions were a little unclear around steering rack extenders / adapters. It sounded like my 02 rack required ones that didn't come with the knuckles, so I foolishly ordered them ahead of time, but even with my wider tracking sedan control arms they made the total tie rod length way too long and I removed them. The normal tie rod ends are replaced with spherical rod ends with loads of bump steer adjustment available, I went with their recommended spacer set up for now. The main surprise that I didn't expect was that despite having the same bolt spacing, WRX brake calipers have different mounting surfaces than STIs and I had to take a grinder to my stoptech caliper brackets to make them work. The view while mounted doesn't really show how much material needed to be removed, it wasn't a small amount, but it wasn't enough to concern me for remaining strength though. All buttoned up and ready for alignment. |
09-15-2020, 11:19 PM | #46 |
Subtly Outspoken
Moderator Member#: 238
Join Date: Sep 1999
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Vehicle:OG05 STi 51E |
First off.. Congrats on a great build. Theres a bunch of Subaru Folks campaigning Various models WRX/STi in SM..
Tim. 2011 STi SM Build Drew 2005 STi SM Build and you seem to know the other Tim with his GC/STi Build All have Exceptional knowledge of what its takes to make a SM Subaru Competitive.... Couple of things.. I might know you .. I live in Beloit.. but I campaigned a 2013 BRZ in STX when they first came out.. then transitioned to a 2016 WRX that was a STX car but transitioned into a STH car.. Both were National level Builds. You have done a outstanding job..I especially like your I/C setup. I also campaigned my 2005 STi in BSP with 275 hoosierdaddies.. Not that you need any advice.. You seem to be doing oK on your own. But if you need any knowledge.. I will see what I can do for you.. If I don't know it, I probably know someone that does.. Bill |
09-16-2020, 11:41 AM | #47 | |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
Quote:
Glancing at some random old local results it looks like we were unfortunately going to opposite/alternating events back when I was playing in STX. Since then I've only been playing around at Windy City Miata events, due to location closeness and the larger number of runs you get in a day with them. |
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09-16-2020, 06:35 PM | #48 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
Wheel clearance
For anyone considering the front wisefab knuckles, be sure that you've got enough wheel clearance. I just assumed that I'd have space, but ended up with much less space left to the rim than I expected. (18x10 RPF1s)
I got double lucky and my cheap used (currently filthy) 17" winter wheels still work too, with a 3mm spacer. I might grind down the ball joint bolt a mm or so just to give a tiny bit of bent wheel catastrophe cushion. |
09-16-2020, 10:23 PM | #49 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
Wheel clearancing
Prior to the recent suspension changes I've had some pretty bad tire rubbing under specific situations, such as tight turns under breaking up front and most any high G turns in the rear.
While doing the rear knuckles, I took out some aggression on my inner fender: Took a grinder to my rear camber plates and got the springs fairly close to the strut tower, still have 2-3mm to spare: Adjusted the lateral links in a bit inward, pulled the fenders a bit more and in theory shouldn't rub any more, even though I went a couple turns lower on the coilover. Before: After: Up front, I cleaned up my camber plates and removed more than a bit of rust from the fasteners: And traded a little camber for some caster, which moves the wheel back just at tough (the main rubbing was happening on the front side of the fender) If I didn't like these old Bakemono camber plates so much, I'd be tempted to take a grinder to them to get more camber. There's loads of space to work with, I need to fab some custom plates up one of these days. |
09-20-2020, 01:33 PM | #50 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 53793
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:02 WRX Wagon PSM |
Thrust and toe
My rough guesses on toe / thrust weren't too close this time... but that's why one measures and adjusts. I did my usual low dollar laser alignment dance of doing rounds of measuring camber, toe and thrust, then adjust and repeat.
For thrust, I always mark up scrap wood and locate relative to the frame near the other end of the car, then measure with a laser from a level board on a specific/repeatable part of the wheel (doesn't touch the tire). Front: And rear: Ended within the margin of error to even thrust all around and zero toe front and rear: Random engine bay shot while enjoying my new garage lighting (a bunch of cheap Barrina LEDs): |
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