soccer05

I have received some questions in regards to how I wired my relocated my battery and its wiring. Basically the battery system is an odyssey pc680 with stinger terminals. The terminals have 3 different gauge outlets from the battery. I run a 0 gauge low resistance cable through the interior to the engine bay. I cut out the oem battery connectors, and ran the 0 gauge cable to a 0 gauge distribution block. This distributed the power evenly to the two oem positive cables, one to the starter and one to the fuse box. The negative wire is run from the starter back to a grounding point on the frame. I will also be running an additional grounding wire from the block to the chassis. There is also a 2 gauge cable from the stinger terminal to the amp to power the amp, and a 2 gauge negative cable from the amp to ground. The negative battery terminal is grounded in the passenger footwell. Let me know if you have any questions...



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soccer05

Swapping out the oem wrx hood scoop for the jdm STI hoodscoop. The jdm hood scoop is much larger, providing more airflow to my bigger tmic, as well as looking more aggressive. Just make sure to get the jdm spplitter as well to ensure all the air is being ducted correctly to the heat exchanger, or else it is a cosmetics mod. I will probably be be making a custom splitter to get the maximum cooling out of the APS TMIC, if not then I will be cutting up the very expensive, new jdm splitter I have in the box. Everything cosmetics wise is just getting bolted up for tuning, and will go to paint after the fender rolling and tuning is complete. The hood definitely looks better with the larger hood scoop, and I can't wait to see mine finished with the hood louvers as well, should give a very purposeful end look.


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soccer05

Hood scoop installed and test fitted to intercooler. I think this gives a pretty functional look to the front end of the car, especially when the hood louvers are installed. Functional cooling and aero, I just need to fab up some ducting to ensure all the air from the scoop goes through the intercooler. Projects are moving along, and the car is getting closer to completion.


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soccer05

Car is dropped on all fours and moves under its own power for the first time in 6 months. The thing sounds beastly, can't wait to get it tuned so I can enjoy it. When I moved it down to the driveway, I must comment the ACT clutch feels amazing. The pedal feel is good and solid, slightly stiffer than stock but definitely daily driveable, good modulation and quick release. I am about as impressed as you can be with a clutch that you have only driven for a total of fifty feet. Definitely an excellent compromise for daily driving. I can already tell I love the ACT Prolite flywheel, I have to make a strong effort not to let the revs climb, the car just wants to rev now. Should definitely help that big GTX 3071 get into the powerband quicker. I would recommend the lightweight flyhwheel to anyone not interested in drag racing, the engine just begs to rev. I can not wait to get this car tuned and hear it bouncing off the rev limiter. Definitely needs an aggressive rear fender pull, at my current ride height the tires are almost rubbing the fender (also due to my rear allignment settings only running -1.25 degrees rear camber to help the car rotate). We will see if we can keep the stock body work, if not its time for some flares and roll around with some sunk in looking 275's while I save for some 18x10.5 with 295's. Hopefully we can make it work with the stock bodywork, as I am not making the power to truly utilize 295's. Let's see how it goes.


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soccer05

Picture of the front of her finally off jackstands. She's looking good, although still a little rough around the edges. Couple of cosmetic areas need finished )bumper, hood vents, paint, etc.). Still very nice to have her back on the ground and rolling under her own power. Time to get all the parts together and take her down to Mike and Tommy at GST so they can do their magic. Very excited to get this thing running again and start enjoying the new car.


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soccer05

To a car guy that has undertaken big projects, this is a beautiful sight. Fired up very quickly, no oil leaks, no exhaust leaks, no cel's, etc. Nothing says good job like an empty garage. Appointment has been set up at the body shop and at GST Motorsports to have my fuel system, turbo, and gauges installed. Very, very much looking forward to having power numbers, high quality race parts installed. Looking forward to enjoying the performance and driveablility of this selection of parts. Very excited for how this project is winding down, looking forward to enjoying the car on the road and track.



The garage does look good waiting for its next project. Now I need to decide between doing the 6 speed swap now, or swap in a ls or vq motor in my 240sx. Probably need to do the 6 speed swap first, for the reliability of the drivetrain, still deciding, first have to get this car to daily driver status. Definitely an amazing feeling to pull the car out for the first time, and have everything work properly. No leaks, no problems, everything running perfectly. Just pulled it out of my driveway, car feels amazing, very impressed with the solid, stable feel of the chassis. SUspension upgrades, drivetrain upgrades, chassis stiffeners, and power upgrades have totally reengineered and changed this car, hopefully all for the power. Now off to GST for the hardcore race parts install that I am not comfortable undertaking...





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strider327

iTrader: (10)

I think I saw your car in there just this past week. It looks solid!

soccer05

Picture of assembled front suspension at proper ride height and dial in suspension allignment settings. MSI spherical front endlinks, Whiteline 24mm front adjustable sway bar, sti aluminum front control arm, robispec front control aarm forward spherical bearing, Whiteline Race ALK, Whiteline Roll Center Correction kit, Rota 18x9.5 et35 dpt, Nitto nt05 275/35 tires, h&r coilovers. Ride height is right around 13.5 inches (going off memory, can't find my notes) in front from center of rim to top of fender, -2.25 degrees camber in front, toe is dead straight. Notice the little things, lack of rubber to aid in consistency, response, and steering feel, proper allignment settings for performance use, decent roll center and roll couple locations due to the extended ball joints and tie rods correcting for the amount of suspension lowering with the coilovers. Notice the control arms are parrallel to the ground, not angled upwards at ride height (which makes the suspension actually gain positive camber under compression). Decent set up until I can get proper coilovers and adjustable hubs and control arms to truly dial out the bump steer and re design the cars scrub radius, roll center, roll couple, etc. A good first step, since the car is not at a level to utilize those parts to the fullest... yet.


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soccer05

Glad you saw it, its looking good over there. I stopped by Thursday to pick up a couple of parts that I had accidentally taken over there and took a look at it and the car looked amazing. Tommy and Mike are doing an absolutely top notch job installing the parts, the fuel system looks amazing. When I was there the TGV's were in, fuel system 80 percent installed, and gtx3071 in for mockup. Looks like I will lose my cruise control due to the wastegate positioning with the ATP turbo, but thats okay I have used it exactly 0 times since I bought the car. I am very excited, it should be a very fun car for the level I am at, and the components should give me plenty of room to grow. I am very much looking forward to getting a proper drivetrain, I am going to be running the 5 speed at the edge and desperately need a 6 speed, better diffs, and a proper set of coilovers. I can't wait to drive this thing, I am missing my subie...

soccer05

Car driven out of the garage under its own power, albeit very slowly to avoid the tires eating up the fenders. Rented a van and trailer from Uhaul to tranports the car first to the body shop, and then to GST Motorsports. There is just something hard core and functional about a purpose built car on a trailer> I think Uhaul just wanted to **** with me though, and even though I reserved a regular truck they stuck me with this moving truck to tow the car. Oh well, stuffed it with the car parts that the pros at GST will install, and got this project onto the next phase. Now we are one step closer to getting the car to run at its peak potential.



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soccer05

All packed up and ready to have a long awaited visit with the pro's Mike and Tommy at GST Motorsports... have to just keep moving forward. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer...



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soccer05

So a little frustrated, took my car to the body shop to get my fenders rolled and pulled and low and behold, they said whoa we don't know if we can do that. So I started stressing because if I am forced to go to flares I would have bought a different set of rims and gone 18x10.5 with at least a 295 series tire in anticipation of more power down the road. Fortunately, I contacted Karlton who lives in the south bay (xtremeyolks on iwsti) and found out about his flares, and he put me in contact with a friend of his that does pulls and photography for many of the show cars. Karlton and I both agreed that I should be able to have a pull done that would allow full suspension travel as well as utilize the stock body work. I contacted his friend and sent him pictures and he agreed he can do the necessary pull. A little frustrated as I would have preferred to have the body work done prior to taking the car to GST, but fortunatelt Mike didn't mind. So now I have that hurdle out of the way, the car is at GST getting the functional power upgrades completed. Huge Huge thanks to Karlton for getting me in touch with someone that can do the fender pull correctly the first time, and can't wait to get in touch with him and utilize those flares on my gd with some huge tires underneath.

soccer05

While my car is down at GST getting the motor work and fuel system installed, I figured now would be a perfect time to finish flocking my clock pod. I first filled the crack with bondo, let it cure, then sanded smooth. I also removed the actual digital clock in the back of the pod, that way I could get the flock all the way to the clock without getting anything on the display, again trying to keep it looking clean and professional, not like a backyard job. Wiped it down with rubbing alcohol to prepare to flock.



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soccer05

Clock pod all flocked and adhessive is curing. In a day or two I will dust off all the excess flocking fibers and reinstall the digital clock, and it will be all ready to just plug in and go when I pick up the car from GST Motorsports. Nice for this project to be getting closer and closer to being done and back to being enjoyed...


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soccer05

Scheduled to pick up the car from gst motorsports this afternoon. Car is 80% done, turbo is in, fuel system installed, gauges installed, etc. The car has a baseline tune and up to 3500 rpms. We couldn't do full throttle dyno tunes yet as the car can not be strapped to the dyno because of the tires. Scheduled a fender pulling session for tonight, so hopefully we will have complete fitment with no issues by the end of the evening. Then it is off to paint the hood scoop, hood louvers, sideskirts, and touch up the wheel wells after the fender pull. Hoping we can pull the fenders enough so there is no rubbing or fitment issues. Then the car is back to gst for final tuning. Making progress...