Updated...Still no new pix. My 2006 idiot-magnet. Here are a few pics of her clean and shiny at mi casa. And a couple in her favorite place (any windy mountain road). And as for my mods... Updated fairly regularly. Engine Helix Catted DP Heat Wrapped SPT Catback (Modified to Full 3") Kartboy Exhaust Hangers K&N Drop-In Cobb Access Port V1 Protuned by Siegel 305whp 355wtq Vf-34 STI Intercooler Walbro 255lph Fuel Pump Suspension USDM STI Pinks Springs Whiteline 22mm Adj. Front Sway Bar Whiteline 22mm Adj. Rear Sway Bar Whiteline Rear Strut Tower Bar w/ Quick Release Kartboy Front and Rear Endlinks Camber Bolts at All Four Corners Creative Werks Cowl Stays Brakes Hawk HP Plus Pads Goodridge SS Lines Motul RBF600 Fluid Cusco Master Cylinder Stopper Driveline STI Short Throw Shift Kit Kartboy Short Throw Lever Kartboy Front and Rear Shifter Bushings TIC Shifter Linkage Bushings TIC Clunk Killer STI Tranny Mount ATC Modified Street Clutch Interior Autospeed Dead Pedal STI Piston Shift Knob Omori Boost and EGT Gauges in Autometer Bezel Exterior 20% tint on the sides, 15% on the rear Piggie Sticker NEED NEW WHEELS AND TIRES LIKE WHOA Thanks for looking. I hope you like it as much as I do (good luck). I will update as things are added or if I get any cool pics.
Thanks for sharing the pics. How do you like the STi USDM pinks? I was considering them, or Eibachs or JDM pinks. The drop on the front looks good on the top pictures but looks a little higher on the mountain pic with the wheel turned. But that's for me to decide end of February, got some time till then. Looks good though. Unreal that was 11k damage. I think I heard WRXs are one of the expensive sedans to fix.
I like them very much so far. They made a drastic improvement over the stock springs. I knew before I bought them that they wouldn't drop the car as much as others but I was more concerned with going as low and as tight as possible without negatively affecting my struts. They were actually my first major suspension mod so I could really notice immediately. Good luck picking out springs, there are several good choices out there. If I wouldn't have gotten such a good deal on these I probably would have bought prodrives in stead. Thanks for the kind words from everyone.
Just bought an STI intercooler and today I am going to schedule a protune w/ SS. I can't wait. Hopefully this will keep me interested for a few weeks. The next inevitable step is teh turbo swap and I can't afford that at all right now so I definitely hope so.:sx:
Well, that didn't last long. I got to the guy's house today that I was buying the intercooler from and ended up agreeing to buy his turbo as well. Looks like I am going vf-39 in my wagon. After getting the car tuned for all the new mods I am sure that will keep me interested for a while. I have no self control.
Lol...just give in, sell the house and pick out a nice carboard box to live in with great garage space.
That's funny. I said the exact thing. I said something about living in a shack with a climate-controlled garage to my GF yesterday. Needless to say she didn't find it as funny as I did.
Well, I finished swapping my turbo and intercooler today. Everything went pretty smooth except for a couple of little things. For some reason I am only boosting about 16.5-16.9 lbs of pressure. I was kind of expecting closer to 18.5 lbs. At least I'm not spiking. The turbo definitely spools about 800-900 rpms slower than the td-04 did. At stage 2 my td-04 would spool at 2800 rpms but the vf-39 wasn't getting fully spun until about 3600-3700 rpms. The car did pull noticeably harder though. Not dramatically harder, but definitely harder. I hope with a good tune I can reach target boost and reach it a little earlier than I am now. I have an appointment to get a tune in a couple of weeks so... we'll see what happens.
The thing is that my chick is so cool she'd probably move into the box with me. Or at least let me crash at her place.
Out of the blue, but I noticed that you have the kartboy endlinks. I am thinking of getting some; would you ressomend going with those or something else? This would be in addition to my RSB already installed on stock links.
I would definitely reccomend them. I have only had them on for about 4000 miles but so far they are dead quiet. I can't comment on their effect as a unit because I installed springs first and then did the sways, links, and strut tower bar all at the same time so all I know is all the aove made a HUGE difference. Go with the Kartboys. I doubt you'll regret it.
Well now that I have the car protuned it is definitely what I was going for. Siegel did a great job against great adversity (good times huh Scott?). Let's just say it was a LONG day. The car is a new animal now. Tons of midrange torque and a lot more top-end. The turbo never really falls on it's face until 6800 rpms. It's definitely a lot of fun now. I also got my new Omori gauges installed. I think they look great. I went with the Electronic Boost/EGT combo in an Autometer bezel. I spent all of last week in the twisties around Boone, NC and the car felt better than ever. On the way home I took a detour to the tail of the dragon and I developed some weird noises in the left rear but pretty much only when I would take 150 degree + turns to the right that went uphill. Turns that overloaded the left rear strut and more than likely was lifting the inside (right rear) wheel. I also was rubbing on that side under the same circumstances. I don't know what's going on. The sound sounded like metal "clacking" against metal but there was also another noise, almost like a loose bolt with a washer "klinking" (like my sound effects?) around on it. I took the covers off of my rear strut towers and there was a dime floating around there, probably making the washer sound I heard. When I got back to Atlanta I torqued everything down to specs and am hoping for the best. I haven't been able to make it back to the mountains but I will try to go this weekend. Oh yeah, who wants to go with me? I'll post in the GTG thread also. If anyone knows anything about what I am describing or if you need a better description let me know. I could use some advice. I'll post more once I find out what is going on.
Lifting a wheel does make some strange noises. I do it ever week day morning and it's rather unnerving. And Boone defiantly has some fun roads!
Well I finally got around to installing my cowl stays (fender braces) yesterday and wow was that epic. It took like two hours to get the side skirts, fender liners, bumper, head lights, and fenders off. Then it took like 15 minutes (taking my time) to swap out the the cowl stays and then another hour and a half to two hours putting the car back together. It was cool though. I learned a lot about how our cars are assembled and I am a lot less afraid to take the car apart. It's funny, I had no problem with swapping a turbo by myself for the first time but I must have put off this mod for like 6 months. I mean I had the damn braces in the back of my car since before my accident last November and just got the nerve to take apart the whole front of the car yesterday. Now that I know how to do it though I could probably do it again in less than 3 hours. If anybody has been thinking about doing these on their car let me know. I would be happy to lend a hand. Also, for the price, you can't beat it. They were immediately noticeable going over bumps in the road and large speed humps. The front of the car now feels incredibly ridged. Turn in and transitional response also seem to have gotten sharper. My tires are in kinda bad shape so I haven't been able to really lean on it yet but I can tell that the rumors were true. The whole car just feels a lot more "solid" now. I have ordered a new set of tires and they should be here on Wednesday. I got Bridgestone re050-a pole positions in 225/45/17. Except for the crazy wear (look in the tire and wheel forum for my issue) I really liked the s03 pole positions so I thought I would give their successor a whirl. If they are as good as I have heard and read then I am sure I will be happy. Next project................brake upgrades. Pads, lines, fluid, cryoed front rotors. Probably gonna go with the Cobb Stage 2 Brake Package.
Lucky you. You don't have to do ANY of the stuff I did. Just pop out the fender liners and swaparoo (awesome spelling of a made-up word FTW). I just wished my car had fender flares SOOO bad for a minute.
lol. Silver does look great from a distance. The dirt just seems to disappear beyond ten feet or so. It just looks less shiny. The black shows so much dirt huh?
Well, as if I hadn't already had enough aesthetic issues with my car (what with the wreck and all) I now have a brand new boo-boo on my baby. Some low-life, gutless, douche-bag, ***hole, hit my car trying to get out of the back parking lot at my work and just left. No note or anything. I didn't even notice it until the next morning b/c it was dark when I left work that night. So now I have a four inch long gouge accompanied by a two foot long scratch with a little of the aforementioned douche bag's white paint left behind on my front bumper. It didn't break the bumper or effect anything else on the front end but now I am left with a nice scar on my precious wagon. At this point, I am f'ing over it. I would much rather invest money in my new brake components than pay a body shop to sand/prime/paint my bumper. Luckily (if you could really call it that) I am pretty sure that whoever hit me is an employee at one of the businesses where I work b/c the back lot is for employees only. If I find out who did it.... Edit: wow, I was really pissed that night.
Whoa, I haven't been on here in a while. Sorry Face. I love the bar when it's in. It just makes the back seat uninhabitable so I take it out when I'm not using it and just put the harnesses in stuff-sacks and , hmhm, stuff them under the front seats.
Great wagon! They fixed her up nice. There were allot of buckles in the rear, I could definitely see $11,000 worth there. Who did your body work? Was your frame good? Looks like they hooked you up nice!
A couple of things. 1. I am selling my wheels here. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1485389 2. I am looking for 04 STI BBS silvers 3. Once again I need a body shop. A tree limb fell on my car and took out the spoiler and the rear windshield wiper. I need someone talented and with a general loathing for insurance companies. Anybody got any ideas.
Just figured since I have been working on my car a lot lately I might as well make an update. So, the vf39 died, bearings went out and sprayed oil all up in my IC. Just finished installing a vf34, Walbro 255, put the stock intake back in with a K&N drop in (as per Siegel's recommendations), heat-wrapped the DP and silicone sealed it, all new exhaust gaskets, cleaned the MAF sensor, changed the oil, and am getting tuned by the Seagull tomorrow. I can't wait to have the powa back. I've been driving my GF's Civic. Oh, and I need a set of 04 STI BBS, either color. I plan on painting them anyway. Anybody know of any locally?
Aight. Tune is finished and Scott did a great job, against all odds. It was another battle between my car and the Siegel. Seems like my car just likes to mess with him. First time was over 8 hours, this time was only about 4. Final numbers came in at 304whp and 355wt. Car pulls really well, though it doesn't feel as visceral as the vf39 in its prime. The power comes on smooth and strong in stead of in one bang like the 39 did. It does spool really well though. Last night, in cool temps, I was hitting 20lbs at 2900 rpms. Today was a little slower, still making 19lbs at 3200. Also, he was having a hell of a time working with the stock boost control system. Eventually he sold me a Topspeed MBC, and was able to get everything to work properly fairly quickly after that. Goes to show, if you can't win...cheat. lol. All in all the car still feels great. There is a ton more down low, less lag than before, and good power. I was definitely expecting more power up top but all things considered, it runs great.
I finally took a detour on your street going home from work one day and saw your ride in the flesh. Looks like you've got some different wheels on there now, almost like the stockers, but flatter if that makes sense. What've you got on there while you're looking for those BBSs?