I have a 1990 usdm legacy wagon 5spd and my longterm goal is to make this into my racecar.
its in general running condition, minor body rust, good frame. 190,000 original miles.
my racing and mechanical skills are novice level in drag and auto-x.
I'd like to ask the more learned & experienced here(which i guess is pretty much everyone compared to me...) for guidance on planning my goal out with the car. To start with, i guess i'd like some suggestions on 'homework' or research i should be doing, like info & stats I should find, parts or tuning I should start with & look into, courses of action, stuff like that.
The only thing is I want to keep street legal until i get to a certain level. My ears are open, so how about some suggestions please?
get a handle on the rust NOW. dont let that get out of hand.
dont worry about tuning.
first you want to make the car handle.
focus on wheels and tires first.
then struts, springs and sway bars.
then move on to the brakes. i suggest starting with new pads, rotors, fluid and stainless steel braided flex lines/hoses.
on the non turbo 2.25" catback exhaust is about as big as you want to go. use a good/cheap free flowing muffler will give you a tiny bit of improvement in throttle response and sound great too.
dont mess with the engine at all. all you should do with the engine is make sure it isnt leaking oil too much. you could add a lightweight crank pulley if you want to but that wont net much power but may improve throttle response a little.
you could also upgrade to what are called Group N motor and transmission mounts. they are a much harder rubber and will minimize driveline flex and help put power to the ground better.
you need to decide where you want to play with you car.
Autocross, rallycross or drag racing. all of those things have different rulesets that you need to follow when preparing your car.
certain upgrades will move you up to a "higher" class that could be uncompetitive for your car. however, if you are more concerned with fun over results that shouldnt matter.
i have outlined some upgrade stuff in threads like this before so look around and have fun!
96 Impreza L sedan
97 legacy outback limited
00 Impreza RS sedan
greg donovan wrote:get a handle on the rust NOW. dont let that get out of hand.
dont worry about tuning.
first you want to make the car handle.
for me, suspension is tuning too.
focus on wheels and tires first.
I have some usdm WRX 16" to put on it
then struts, springs and sway bars.
then move on to the brakes. i suggest starting with new pads, rotors, fluid and stainless steel braided flex lines/hoses.
on the non turbo 2.25" catback exhaust is about as big as you want to go. use a good/cheap free flowing muffler will give you a tiny bit of improvement in throttle response and sound great too.
dont mess with the engine at all. all you should do with the engine is make sure it isnt leaking oil too much. you could add a lightweight crank pulley if you want to but that wont net much power but may improve throttle response a little.
you could also upgrade to what are called Group N motor and transmission mounts. they are a much harder rubber and will minimize driveline flex and help put power to the ground better.
you need to decide where you want to play with you car.
Autocross, rallycross or drag racing. all of those things have different rulesets that you need to follow when preparing your car.
in its life, I expect to do all of them for at least a little while. For autocross, i want to hold off on serious work that would put me in a different class, like mounts and whatnot. But obviously when I want to rallycross it may become a different picture.
i have outlined some upgrade stuff in threads like this before so look around and have fun!
Thanks. I'm new to the community so my searching has been kind of shot in the darkish. I'll read up.
