legacycentral bbs

+10 pts.
I'm trading in the car for a XQJ-37 Nuclear Powered Pan Sexual Roto-Plooker.

http://www.lyricsdomain.com/6/frank_zappa/

I've come to realize over the last few days that it wasn't so much the car that needs tuning, as my right foot that needed recalibration. I've been driving this car for 8 years, and in all that time, the throttle never had any effect on the engine past about 1/3 throttle...and I was continuing to drive it that way, even with the new motor. Ingrained habits, hard to break...I just discovered a vast reserve of power when I floor the pedal. Whoo Hooo! I was actually giggling as I ripped past a contingent of the Anti-Destination League.

I TOOK PICTURES, I TOOK PICTURES, YAAAAAY!















Intake was created before anyone thought of using a coffee mug...



MMMM...golden valve covers. Factory RS-RA heads.



Subaru Big Block



Mechanicat searches for answers



Early WRX intercooler...only game in town 10 years ago.







Bumper paint trashed both ends. Paint is 4 years old.





Pigs on the wing





Look here for early photos, before I bought it (2001) http://legacycentral.org/centric/members/matt.htm

You read my fricken mind.........

MMMM...golden valve covers. Factory RS-RA heads.



The hood scoop shot is awesome too!!

......*drooling alot*

yeah wowee.. SO nice.

ugh.. im jealous that's SO sweet.

Thanks!

The hood scoop, by the way, is a $40 after-market fakie that I opened up with an X-acto knife. Don't tell anyone...

looks pretty good for a fake

Good to see you are having fun with your car.

ENJOY!

Nice car. What are you revving the engine to?

keirnna wrote:Nice car. What are you revving the engine to?

I usually keep it under 5500...I've never been too comfortable really winding a motor out, and with the old one, it didn't accomplish much anyway... as noted, though I'm still re-learning to drive the car, so I'll explore the top end more a bit later.
Great Clarkson quote, by the way...I love Top Gear, I can't believe no one in the US has stolen the format yet.

I am the Stig....

Grrrr. Black looks soooo hot on these cars. Damn.

The hood scoop looks really good!!

Aerotech wrote:

keirnna wrote:Nice car. What are you revving the engine to?

I usually keep it under 5500...I've never been too comfortable really winding a motor out, and with the old one, it didn't accomplish much anyway... as noted, though I'm still re-learning to drive the car, so I'll explore the top end more a bit later.
Great Clarkson quote, by the way...I love Top Gear, I can't believe no one in the US has stolen the format yet.

I am the Stig....

Wow 5500. The stock fuel cut on the RA engine is 8,500 RPM with a redline of 7,900. From what I read the EJ257 cannot take revving to 8K, which is a shame, but 7K should be no problem. The car is made to rev high. I really think you should explore 7k !

Wow... Awesome!!

Soo... Hows she handle?

The handling freakin' rocks. Even with the rear sway bar disconnected! The front 22mm WL is incorrect for the car, it's for an NA car, so it rubs on the crossmember, but it works great. Basically zero body roll, the car turns like it's on rails. The only bummer is the creaks & groans from the front end, which are really pronounced when it's wet.

The rear suspension was totally out of whack when I got the car, looked like at least 3-4 deg. of toe-out (on the REAR wheels ) Looked like I was drunk going down the road, the car was bump-steering all over the place. I had to do a field surgery alignment with my adjustable wrench and a tape measure. Got it pretty damn close to neutral, too.

I still need new tie-rod ends, it's got a bit too much play in the steering. The 2.5RS steering rack is quicker, but feels heavier. I like the way it feels, but two-fingering it into a parking spot is out.

I want to fit (or try to, anyway) the 17" Prodrive P1s next week, to check out the clearances. I should be OK, they're 7.5 wide and +53 offset.

The Prodrives fit great. But the BFG KDWs are noisy as hell... they are only about 1/2 worn, from what I can tell from looking at them. But that follows what I read about the tires when researching them. They came with the rims. 215/45 17.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... %2FA+KDW+2

High-speed noise is tolerable, a medium pitch whine, probably about 1Khz, blends in with wind and motor, but below 20mph, they sound disturbingly similar to the mudders I have on my van, and as I approach a stop, I can actually feel the car vibrating as the tread blocks hit the pavement. Sheesh, didn't they bother testing these tires? Apparently, they are very quiet when new, and grip like glue, but start howling as they age. Not pleasant...

Guess I'll have to try my hardest to wear them out, as quickly as possible...

sooooo.... taken the tach up the range a bit more? I'd kill for a 7500 redline.

Aerotech wrote:The Prodrives fit great. But the BFG KDWs are noisy as hell... they are only about 1/2 worn, from what I can tell from looking at them. But that follows what I read about the tires when researching them. They came with the rims. 215/45 17.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... %2FA+KDW+2

High-speed noise is tolerable, a medium pitch whine, probably about 1Khz, blends in with wind and motor, but below 20mph, they sound disturbingly similar to the mudders I have on my van, and as I approach a stop, I can actually feel the car vibrating as the tread blocks hit the pavement. Sheesh, didn't they bother testing these tires? Apparently, they are very quiet when new, and grip like glue, but start howling as they age. Not pleasant...

Guess I'll have to try my hardest to wear them out, as quickly as possible...

Why buy a performance car and tires and then complain about them being load? Give some RE-01Rs or Z1 Star Specs a try if you want loud tires . Neovas AD07's on the other hand are so quiet they don't even squeak when sliding sideways at 100 km/h.

Arctic Assassian wrote:sooooo.... taken the tach up the range a bit more? I'd kill for a 7500 redline.

Yep... and then the turbo outlet hose popped. As in broke. Not really supprised, it's a coolant hose out of the Vanagon that happened to fit perfectly, but it's probably older than the car is. I need a 90 deg silicone elbow for the connection, but one end needs to be larger than the other; the inlet of the I/C is smaller than the outlet of the turbo. I guess I can clamp down extra on the smaller side to keep it in place.
Limping around with duct tape on the hose now, can't really boost it too much.

On a brighter note, I tried some really hard cornering the past few days. Wow, this thing just hangs on, especially with the KDWs on it now. No squealing, and it's very neutral in turns, doesn't push or try to rotate at all. The right front tire is rubbing on something when in extreme compression, sounds like the inner liner. Left is not touching at all.

BTW, the tires came with the rims...I didn't pick 'em out. But really, damn, the All-Terrain TAs on my van are quieter.

These guys can take care of all of your hose needs and they are cheap: http://www.siliconeintakes.com/

keirnna wrote:These guys can take care of all of your hose needs and they are cheap: http://www.siliconeintakes.com/

and they send you a sticker

Thanks!! Great site!

I love getting packages in the mail

Haven't been around much recently. I am really glad to see this all sorted out and the car back on the road.

The pictures make me sad. My '91 SS that I sold at Christmas was black. Or I should say is black. Jeff, I hope you love that car as much as I did. That reminds me, I owe a guy a steering wheel still. I better get on that...

Got a silicone hose for the turbo outlet, on Ebay from a guy in Hong Kong. They didn't have one small enough on siliconeintakes, I had to go down to 1.75" on the I/C inlet side. Works like a charm.

I found the cold start problem. Took me all of 15 minutes, and 5 of that was removing the alternator. First I shot the wires to the main engine disconnects (the big grey plugs down by the battery); one temp sense wire had continuity, the other did not. I unwrapped the wires for the temp sensor, exposed the splices ECS did (had to use the original connector)...no problem there. Unwrapped a few more inches, gave a little tug, *pop* out comes the broken wire from under the coolant manifold. I wrapped up two new wires and made a new run from the disconnect to the temp sensor. Sweet, instant starting goodness in the cold light of dawn is now mine!
I figure this one broken wire cost me an extra 2 months without my car...those clowns swore they checked the wiring, but the car just would not start. Then, one day when the temp got above 40deg., the car miraculously begins to run. Praise Jesus.

Got the new carpet in...that was some work, but it looks great vs the syphillitic grey rag that was in there. http://aaaautocarpet.com/ the Impreza carpet kit.
AND... got the front seats done up in the new WRX black leather kit. Did that myself, replaced the metal hogrings with zip-ties. Took all day for both seats, but they look HOT! I have to take the rears to an upholstery shop to get modified, as a WRX doesn't have split fold-downs like us.
Put in a WRX red-stitched handbrake handle while the console was out...*Looked* identical to the old one, but the mount holes were a bit off, had to Dremel the holes elongated to fit.

On the down side, (always!) the sunroof motor died. Even w/ 12v applied right to the plug, no action. Does not look pretty to replace! I'm thinking sliding canvas sunroof, like on old Beetles. Webasto makes one, and a few other companies.

or you could do the pop-up kind.

some subies had those i think... like my infamous L wagon... duh..duh DUH

I got a pop-up for $150 installed when I got the car. Never leaks, weighs very little, pops up pretty high (2-level), pops out completely in seconds and stows in the rear footwell at any traffic light. I like it better than the power unit in my Mazda3.

until people break into your car while you are folfing and steal your 1K woth of car audio + ipod + existance.

Ugh!