soccer05

Finally finished my initial alignment and ride height. Glad that job is finally done, I am currently using the following specs.

Front is set at exactly -2.25 degrees camber
Rear is set at exactly -1.5 degrees camber

Toe is set DEAD straight all the way around.

Glad that part is finally done, setting the alignment is so time consuming, especially when it is just one person doing everything, a lot of time spent crawling out from under the car and checking measurements. This step can not be underestimated, as a roper alignment is absolutely essential to maximizing performance of your suspension and car. I am sure I will need more tweaking, but this is a good ball park to start with, and then some tweaking and corner weighting will come soon. Glad this part is behind me, not difficult just very time consuming to get it exact.

Ride height is still 13 and 1/8 of an inch from center of rear rim to top of fender, will get a measurement for the front when the fenders go back on. GLad the project is slowly moving....

soccer05

Picture of TIC X Brace installed. Huge thanks to TIC for bringing this product back to the market, everything I have heard about this product is amazing for a chassis brace to be so functional and feelable. Just by looking at it it is clear how much it will increase the rear end rigidity of the suspension. Also, thanks to TIC for the excellent customer service, responding to my phone calls and helping out with this build, as everyone in the community knows TIC is an amazing shop with high quality parts and exceptional customer service. Definitely recommend them to anyone doing work on Subarus.

After hearing horror stories about the install, I must say it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Definitely had a few moments of frustration, but overall vey well machined, well fitting part. Looking forward to the results once everything is back on the road.


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soccer05

Hood scoop and splitter removed, to be replaced with new oem sti hood scoop and splitter combination from a jdm bugeye sti. This splitter/scoop is substantially larger than the oem wrx combination, and should substantially increase the cooling to the larger aps tmic. As you can see, the hood has also been measured, taped off, and ready for cutting to install the run cool hood louvers. These should substantially increase the cooling systems efficiency by not allowing a build up of pressure in the engine bay. These scoops will be taken down to a paint shop along with the hood scoop, and side skirts, and painted wrb to match the car. I am really liking the functional purposefull look of these parts, they really make the front of the car look mean.

More pics of the progress to come in the next couple of days...


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soccer05

Front Fenders reinstalled, car is starting to come together, waiting on a new defi egt gauge to arrive off back order, then a couple of loose ends, and then the car will be on the road to my chassis shop to get corner balanced and reverify allignment. Getting excited, then its break in time for the clutch, then take it down to the shop and install the heavy hitting performance parts.



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soccer05

Minor update- entire interior except the dash is stripped from car so I can remove all sound deadening to remove as much weight as possible. Went to my local auto paint supply and picked up some por-15 to paint over where sound deadening is removed and protect against corrosion. Will be removing the dash this week to remove all the sound deadening under the dash. I will be reinstalling the carpet, just removing some dead weight. Currently contemplating flocking the dash while I have everything out, anybody have a good experience with a particular brand of flocking kit.

It's funny how these projects spiral, stripping the interior was a response to my wiring for my battery relocation being delayed until next week... It will be nice to drop a couple pounds off an already heavy car tho.

Any good experiences with a particular flocking kit please chime in. Thanks

soccer05

In the process of stripping out all the sound deadening in the interior, initially I was skeptical about the weight savings but so far it has proven worth the time. I got called in to work for some ot, but was able to strip all the sound deadening rear of the b pillars, and so far the bag weighs 6-8 pounds, and i still have the driver and passenger footwells and all the sound deadening under the dash. Initially I was skeptical on the amount of work involved compared to the weight savings, but so far I am pleasantly pleased. Just be ready to paint after as the metal under the sound deadening is unpainted. I will update with total weights when I finish. Pics to come this week, I know I've been lagging...

soccer05

Hood has been cut for the hood louvers. Very happy with this modification, just need to make time next week to take the louvers, hood scoop, sideskirts, etc. down to the body shop to be painted oem subaru wrb. Waiting on the quote from them, I would really like to be able to pain tmy hood and front bumper, as they do have some marks from wear and tear, since it is so easy for stains to get under the subaru clearcoat and permanently blemish the finish. Not sure, we will have to see how the quote comes in. So basically, all that is left for the hood is to predrill the holes for the rivets (being painted wrb as well) and then ready to install after the body shop. Just need to finish my interior sound deadening removal and rewiring, then fill with fluids and take to the shops for the couple of tasks remaining. Slowly getting there...

Really impressed with the hood louvers for the price, very simple mod and much cheaper than a carbon hood, in my opinion money better spent elsewhere for a relatively heavy wet carbon fiber hood setup...


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soccer05

The current state of the interior of my car. Interior seats, braces, carpeting, and trim have been stripped out to allow for effecient removal of the sound deadening loaded into the wrx. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of weight that I have already removed from the car, since when I started this process I thought I would be wasting my time. I have currently removed the sound deadening from the picture all the way back to the trunk, but the front seat areas still need removed, as well as the heavy matting under the dash. I have already removed 6-8 pounds of needless weight from the car, and it is widely accepted the majority of the weight comes from under the dash. More to come, I am hoping if I do not get called into work this weekend to make substantial progress on the car, as I have been too busy with work lately and have not made as much progress as I would have hoped. We are slowly moving forward...


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soccer05

Currently removing the remainder of the dash controls to get to the heater core so I can remove the rear seat heater vents, as I need to remove them to get to the matting under the dash. Anybody with tips that could shorten my struggle let me know, as I believe I am going to have to remove the entire lower part of the dash to get access to the heater core and remove these rear vents. Any tips or links - let me know..


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soccer05

Thanks fo rthe info.. I was looking at FSM but wasn't sure if I was missing something, and it pisses me off everytime I break a fastener. Hopefully the dash will be fully removed by the end of the day, and the calipers rebuilt.

soccer05

Minor update- dash is completely out and getting prepped for flocking. All under dash components have been removed to strip the under dash sound deadening. Left the padding under windshield as I didn't want to listen to the dash rattle, and leaving a square of the insulation under the ecu for insurance. Probably not necessary, but I'll take a little extra precautions around the ecu. Pics will be updated shortly. Excited to finish the tear down and start on reassembly. I hate wiring, so I will be glad when I am done with the electronics.

soccer05

Update from beginning of yesterday, here is how the dash looked at the start of the day with all the lower dash panels removed in preparation to remove the dash. All electronics have been labeled to ensure correct reinstall, a little time now can save massive amountws of time troubleshooting and diagnosing later. Dash needs to be romoved, blower motor, etc. to remove all sound deadening. Then prep work with a wire wheel to remove any little bits of remaining deadening, prep with acetone, and paint. This project is slowly making progress.


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soccer05

Just received the necessary parts for my battery relocation. Very excited as these are top quality connections that should be able to achieve high end reliability. Will be running 0 gauge low resistance cable from the battery under the passenger seat to the oem battery location. This will connect to a distribution block, which will then connect to the starter. Battery will obviously have all the proper in line fuses and connecters, etc. This arrangement will allow me to have the ideal placement of weight, lower my polar moment of inertia, and move the center of gravity back off the nose of a nose heavy car. Also, by using the distribution block, I am able to have areliable power distribution as well as an easy to access point for connection with a timing light. Excited to have these parts mounted and the interior back in the car.


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And the high end 0 gauge low resistance cable-


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soccer05

Yeah, huge huge thanks for posting those two how to articles on your website. I'm pretty confident in other areas of car prep, but body work has always scared me, but those two articles have enough information step by step that I felt confident in tackling the job. As is evident in my build, I don't think enough serious subie owners take the necessary steps to put sufficient rubber on the road, instead settling for smaller rubber to avoid the bodywork issues. Huge thanks, I know those articles can take a lot of time but an enormous help. Thanks again for the help and advice.

soccer05

Pictures of progress over the weekend- Dash is completely removed from the car, and waiting to be flocked and reinstalled. I am using MSI's buld thread for advice on the flocking, and have taken apart all removable panels to make this job look as proffessional as possible. Now just need pictures of the sound deadening removed, Por-15 painted, and interior reinstalled. A lot of work that hopefully no one will ever see or notice, but goes well in the theme of being a dual purpose street car. Very excited to reinstall the dash, as I think it will look amazing as well as cut down on the annoying glare I get when I clean the car. Was very satisfied with the ease in which the dash was removed, I have worked on dashes that were an absolute ***** before, but the subaru unit removed quite easily, with minor trim and attachment points, but nothing horrible. Definitely within the scope of the average do it yourselfer.


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