long drive or NOOB Heaven?
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 34
unstble - What? - of course I appreciated it - I couldn't stop drivin' the friggin thing. I was filling it up 2 times a week. You do the math.
I know exactly what it was and what I made it. It made me poor, but I had fun while it lasted. Get one, you'll have fun too, but don't try to drive it thru any corners ! ! ! & be sure to have a fat account for gassing up !!!
cavallino33 - It needed body work & paint, but not badly and it was dyno-tuned - 300+WHP The interior was pretty clean too. It was a classic to be sure, but most of them are ending up as trailer queens. Everyone seems to want "numbers matching" like these were somethig special when original. Put some on some trim and put in a huge engine in a cheap Belvedere and you have - walla - a GTX. Its a successful MOPAR formula - look at the SRT4 - same thing. According to "old school" - mod it right away; get the HP up - all stock is for someone else.
Mine was a driver and that is why I never had the body work & paint done. Only exception was when it was raining.
Don't miss it. I got pics.
I'm getting to like this stock red wagon from Ventrua though.
I know exactly what it was and what I made it. It made me poor, but I had fun while it lasted. Get one, you'll have fun too, but don't try to drive it thru any corners ! ! ! & be sure to have a fat account for gassing up !!!
cavallino33 - It needed body work & paint, but not badly and it was dyno-tuned - 300+WHP The interior was pretty clean too. It was a classic to be sure, but most of them are ending up as trailer queens. Everyone seems to want "numbers matching" like these were somethig special when original. Put some on some trim and put in a huge engine in a cheap Belvedere and you have - walla - a GTX. Its a successful MOPAR formula - look at the SRT4 - same thing. According to "old school" - mod it right away; get the HP up - all stock is for someone else.
Mine was a driver and that is why I never had the body work & paint done. Only exception was when it was raining.
Don't miss it. I got pics.
I'm getting to like this stock red wagon from Ventrua though.
Registered User
iTrader: (4)
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 3,670
From: East Bay / Pomona
Car Info: '02 PSM WRX
Originally Posted by mcdrama
I didn't modify for 6 months at least. then once I started I didn't stop.
This is the order I did my mods. The best advice I can give, is before you do performance mods, get better brakes. even just pads, rotors, lines and fluid will give you something around 20% more stopping power I think?
Anyway, here is the order I went in:
1 - 17" Rota Subzero -$300 used(www.LICMotorsports.com) - You really can not go wrong with rota, I have taken mine off road on heavy washboard roads on several ocasions and they are still perfect!
1.1 - Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S tires 215/45/17 - $119 each@tirerack.com - These tires were awesome for the first 14K miles then I got them too hot and they stopped sticking as good as they used to. Incredible in the rain though!
2 - ERZ Flex Uppipe - $100 shipped on eBay - This, along with any other aftermarket uppipe removes the first cat before the turbo. The particular uppipe I got is basically a helix knock-off, but works fine. on the stock ECU tune I made 166WHP/176ft-tq. Mostly just got rid of some turbo lag which is nice.
3 - 20mm rear sway bar - free from a friend - The 02/early 03 sedans came stock with 20mm rear sway bars. Wagons IIRC just had 17mm. My 04 wagon came with the janky 17mm RSB. Swapping it out for a 20mm bar made a HUGE difference in handling, it got rid of a lot of body roll.
4 - Whiteline stearing rack and rear diff mount bushings - $65 (LICMotorsports.com and mpjperformance.com)- this tightens up a bit of the squish in the steering. To get an idea, when your car is off try turning the wheel side to side a few times and you'll notice how its a bit squishy initially before the wheels even begin to turn. That is what it gets rid of. Easy mod to do with 2 people but the drivers side is a *****! thats why you need the second person.
The rear diff mount bushings make the clunk go away between shifting sometimes.
5 - rear strut tower bar - $35 eBay crap - When you really push your wagon through turns, there is a tiny bit of flex between the rear strut towers since there is nothing between them to stablize. something like the GT-Spec(www.gtspec.com) bar design is more effective since it places the reinforcement at the tops of the struts and not in between like the cheap knock off I have. This is another future upgrade I need to do.
6 - EcuTek reflash - $700 @ Gruppe-S(www.gruppe-s.com) - Mike does great work. Though now you can get custome Cobb AccessPort maps tuned by Mike. This is what I would go with now since it gives you the flexibility of shelf maps from cobb, going back to a stock tune for dealership service, or if/when you add more mods you don't have to wait for it to be re-tuned.
Last checkup with mike when I was still running the gutted stock DP I was at 197WHP/192FT-tq.
7 - Eibach prokit lowering springs & camber bolts - $240 (springs from worldoneperformance.com, camber bolts from www.mpjperformance.com)- This made things a lot stiffer, but in the turns it is soooo much more consistant and predictable then before.
Stock, there are no camber bolts in the rear so I got Eibach camber bolts and am running -0.8 front, -1.6 rear. at the next tire change I will go to -1 front, -1 rear.
This is about it for me. Along the lines somewhere I added a SubyDude short shifter, which is basically a kartboy(www.kartboy.com) shifter from what I have heard, a gutted stock downpipe which is nice for a stock tune, but didn't do me any good on aftermarket engine management. I later have added a 3" divorced waste Stromung downpipe, and 2.5" stromung catback, keeping the stock 3rd cat.
I have put just under 50K miles on my wagon in about a year and a half.
I think you are going to love this car, sure people say they look funny but they do not know what is like to drive a wrx.
Anyways, sorry for the hi-jack, let me know if you want to explore some of the south bay back roads, there are some incredible places to drive around here.
This is the order I did my mods. The best advice I can give, is before you do performance mods, get better brakes. even just pads, rotors, lines and fluid will give you something around 20% more stopping power I think?
Anyway, here is the order I went in:
1 - 17" Rota Subzero -$300 used(www.LICMotorsports.com) - You really can not go wrong with rota, I have taken mine off road on heavy washboard roads on several ocasions and they are still perfect!
1.1 - Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S tires 215/45/17 - $119 each@tirerack.com - These tires were awesome for the first 14K miles then I got them too hot and they stopped sticking as good as they used to. Incredible in the rain though!
2 - ERZ Flex Uppipe - $100 shipped on eBay - This, along with any other aftermarket uppipe removes the first cat before the turbo. The particular uppipe I got is basically a helix knock-off, but works fine. on the stock ECU tune I made 166WHP/176ft-tq. Mostly just got rid of some turbo lag which is nice.
3 - 20mm rear sway bar - free from a friend - The 02/early 03 sedans came stock with 20mm rear sway bars. Wagons IIRC just had 17mm. My 04 wagon came with the janky 17mm RSB. Swapping it out for a 20mm bar made a HUGE difference in handling, it got rid of a lot of body roll.
4 - Whiteline stearing rack and rear diff mount bushings - $65 (LICMotorsports.com and mpjperformance.com)- this tightens up a bit of the squish in the steering. To get an idea, when your car is off try turning the wheel side to side a few times and you'll notice how its a bit squishy initially before the wheels even begin to turn. That is what it gets rid of. Easy mod to do with 2 people but the drivers side is a *****! thats why you need the second person.
The rear diff mount bushings make the clunk go away between shifting sometimes.
5 - rear strut tower bar - $35 eBay crap - When you really push your wagon through turns, there is a tiny bit of flex between the rear strut towers since there is nothing between them to stablize. something like the GT-Spec(www.gtspec.com) bar design is more effective since it places the reinforcement at the tops of the struts and not in between like the cheap knock off I have. This is another future upgrade I need to do.
6 - EcuTek reflash - $700 @ Gruppe-S(www.gruppe-s.com) - Mike does great work. Though now you can get custome Cobb AccessPort maps tuned by Mike. This is what I would go with now since it gives you the flexibility of shelf maps from cobb, going back to a stock tune for dealership service, or if/when you add more mods you don't have to wait for it to be re-tuned.
Last checkup with mike when I was still running the gutted stock DP I was at 197WHP/192FT-tq.
7 - Eibach prokit lowering springs & camber bolts - $240 (springs from worldoneperformance.com, camber bolts from www.mpjperformance.com)- This made things a lot stiffer, but in the turns it is soooo much more consistant and predictable then before.
Stock, there are no camber bolts in the rear so I got Eibach camber bolts and am running -0.8 front, -1.6 rear. at the next tire change I will go to -1 front, -1 rear.
This is about it for me. Along the lines somewhere I added a SubyDude short shifter, which is basically a kartboy(www.kartboy.com) shifter from what I have heard, a gutted stock downpipe which is nice for a stock tune, but didn't do me any good on aftermarket engine management. I later have added a 3" divorced waste Stromung downpipe, and 2.5" stromung catback, keeping the stock 3rd cat.
I have put just under 50K miles on my wagon in about a year and a half.
I think you are going to love this car, sure people say they look funny but they do not know what is like to drive a wrx.
Anyways, sorry for the hi-jack, let me know if you want to explore some of the south bay back roads, there are some incredible places to drive around here.
I agree with numbers 2,3, and 6. The UP probably makes one of the biggest differences in noticeable power for the $$.
For approx $200, you can up your awhp something like 10 awhp and you kill some of the turbo lag and protect your turbo from a failing cat.
A new rear sway bar, especially on a wagon helps dramatically. IIRC, Leo is running a sedan sway on his wagon, and he's always close to if not the top at most auto-X. People also sell stock parts pretty cheap around here so a rear stock sedan sway shouldn't be hard to find.
Getting some kind of engine management, like ECUTek or AccessPort will up your power, raise your gas mileage (unless you drive harder because you got more power, and make your car smoother. It also will prep your car for the future in case you ever want to get power mods, because this is a must mod if you have any type of big power mod on your car.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 34
STI owns - I am leaning towards your suggestions and will probably go with AP as that is what Fine Line (not only are they very close to where I work, they are first rate in my book so far) likes and it seems to have good features and also has a good following. I will get the UP, the rear sway and the AP all at once after I get some more driving time.
I guess NOOB's are easy to impress.....and I am. My basis for comparison is my old two-door red 510 from the mid 80's and, of course, this stock WRX wagon smokes it on all fronts IMO. I took a reverse banked corner yesterday that I take everyday on my commute home at a "higher than normal" speed and it was unreal for me. The thing stuck.
I have a ways to go driving this car to tell what is what and I expect I will have a lot of fun doing that.
I guess NOOB's are easy to impress.....and I am. My basis for comparison is my old two-door red 510 from the mid 80's and, of course, this stock WRX wagon smokes it on all fronts IMO. I took a reverse banked corner yesterday that I take everyday on my commute home at a "higher than normal" speed and it was unreal for me. The thing stuck.
I have a ways to go driving this car to tell what is what and I expect I will have a lot of fun doing that.
the artist formerly known as mcdrama
iTrader: (23)
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 6,428
From: Santa Cruz Mountains, CA.
Car Info: WRBP 2015 WRX Premium/CVT
Originally Posted by STi-owns-evo
People also sell stock parts pretty cheap around here so a rear stock sedan sway shouldn't be hard to find.
250,000-mile Club President
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 4,770
From: Bizerkeley
Car Info: MBP 02 WRX wagon
Originally Posted by sendin
Oh yea - the tires that are on this car now are BF Goodrich g-force T/A KDWS 205/55 ZR16 89 W M&S. I suspect these are OK general purpose tires that are probably a lot better than the RE92s.
And Matt is right, the sedan rear sway bars are not as available as they once were, I'd suggest going adjustable too, it's just nice to be able to tweak the set-up, with a fixed bar you are stuck with what you have.
Last edited by psoper; Sep 20, 2005 at 10:22 AM.
Originally Posted by sendin
I took a reverse banked corner yesterday that I take everyday on my commute home at a "higher than normal" speed and it was unreal for me. The thing stuck.
I have a ways to go driving this car to tell what is what and I expect I will have a lot of fun doing that.
I have a ways to go driving this car to tell what is what and I expect I will have a lot of fun doing that.
regarding the up-pipe..the objective is to remove the chunk of metal that is restricing gas flow, so have your stock up-pipe gutted by a pro, then if you ever get pulled by the law and your forced to go have an inspection, you will not fail. swapping up-pipes is a much longer job than just swapping exhausts. I don't think there is much difference in performance between an aftermarket up-pipe and a stock, gutted one.
once you start modding...it never ends :-)
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