2015 AutoX Thread

hot off the presses, the Fastback for Nov. is out and STU AWD got more than we all where thinking! It looks like some people where pulling for STU AWD cars, maybe even the STi's/WRX's.

November Fastrack

Street Touring

#14254 RWD Wheel Width Limit Proposal

Change the following language in 14.4 WHEELS:

“STU - 11inches​

Change the following language in 14.3 TIRES:

STU (2WD, Mid-Engine, Rear-Engine) - 255mm
STU (2WD, Other) - 285mm
STU (AWD) - 265mm:naughty:​

Though it does look to be in the proposed section, this is better than just discussion. Hopefully it make into the rules for next year.

 

NICE! Now to figure out wheel setups.

 

Man, 265s...? Sweet!

 

Yeah this is harder than it I originally thought. I did not see any great options for 17s, only 18s and only at 35% currently.

Also with 265 tires getting a 'low weight' 10.5" or 11" wide wheel is going to F.....ing expensive :wtc:

 

There is no way will be able to tuck a +12.

I need to do some testing on roll over on the 265s i have on my 9.5. I know 10 or 10.5 will be better but struggling to fit that wide of wheel is going to be expensive.

 

This is what I have found so far:

Enkei RPF1 18x10 +38 18.45 lbf ($351.00 from Summit)
Enkei NT03+M 18x10.5 +30 21 lbf ($351.00 from Summit)

Prices sky rocket from here. I may go the NT03 if I they don't require to much work.

From this article it my not work though with 265 as he is using 245s. -link- One could argue with proper springs and all, the suspension would not be any more comprised than this guy is lowered and it does say or look like his fenders are rolled/stretched.
Though this guy is selling the setup (wrong tire) that I am looking at and claims that it will fit any 08+ STi -link-

 

It's a struggle to get anything wider than a 9.5 on our cars with some serious rolling or camber.

 

both are doable and legal for STU:naughty:

 

Hey all, so as some of you know my engine probably spun a bearing (or something with similar consequences) at the last race. It is being fixed now, but I'm going back and forth on whether to keep it or I would love someone to carry the torch in STU with it if I don't. Right now I'm trying to make sure she is ready for duty either way with additional work being done to make sure she's ready to keep fighting. I'll try and update more when I figure it out.

I just saw the comment on rolling fenders and wanted to make sure to chime in. It is actually illegal in STU to do anything more lip rolling (rules are pastep below). STU people in the past (more for National events, but local have made issue with it for good reason) have disputed and won over this and it's a common thing people look for at National events in our class to easily dispute since people do it. There is even supposedly year specific templates people have out there to hold up against STU cars to make sure their lip work didn't extend the fenders.

Since people go here for modding advice I wanted to make sure it was said before someone does unfixable work that could disqualify them.

All these posts about the changes are making me lean on keeping the car. Now if they would have only allowed us older gen STi's to get the changes to keep up with you new fandangled machines with all your fairy dust updates then I'd be all in!


14.2 Bodywork
E. Fenders may not be cut or flared but the inside lip may be rolled to gain additional tire clearance. (The outer fender contour may not be changed.) Plastic and rubber wheel well splash shields may be modi-
fied for tire clearance and to accommodate a rolled inside fender lip. The modifications may serve no other purpose (e.g., air intake, brake ducts, etc). No other changes to the standard fenders or wheel wells are
permitted.

 

YES thanks for the clarification. There is a difference from rolling fenders and stretching fenders.

 

My wheels were RIGHT at the limit of rolling the fenders this year.

I've been using this tool to guessimate my wheels for next year.

http://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp

Its pretty darn accurate as well. I did measuring and then compared and it was spot on.

However this does not account for camber, so it might be off by due to camber settings.

 

Just about, and I've noticed a HUGE benefit to having as wide of offset wheels as you can muster in the front as well. It helped ALOT for turn in \ fighting off understeer.

 

So looking at the measurements and knowing how far my 17x9 +22 set up stuck out... and those stuck out enough to do some paint damage dead center of the rear wheel well (the part that was rolled flat) on that really hard bump\corner during points 10.

17x9 +22 should be your benchmark for "any more than this it most def wont fit" on the STi Hatches.

18x10 - 18x11 you'd have to go to a +42 ish wheel to be able to clear the fenders without pulling them.

I think I'll be looking for a set of 18x9.5 +35ish or just doing some tire shuffle on my current DD setup (18x9.5 +42). I am already running a 265 on them, I'll be doing some "testing" during tougefest with tire pressures and roll over gauging.

 

I know you talked about maxing the track width as much as possible, with your current set. But how much did that leave clearance on the inside? As I think this will help determine how much wheel can 'fit' on our cars.

I was able to fit 17x9.5 +38 (with a 5 mm, or +33 in the front). Using the calculator this moves the front .9" out, thus leaving .9" clearance from the factory tire suspension clearance.
Looking at a 18x10.5 we would need to find a HIGH offset tire. Again using the calculator a 18x10.5 +46 will have similar .9" wider than stock and .2" less suspension clearance from stock. Not far from what you got.
We should be able to get away with more as all my calculation are base with factory camber adjustments. So hopefully with suspension/camber mods and better lip rolling (not fender stretching), we might be able to go with a lower offset; something like the Enkei NT03-M 18x10.5 +30:sx:

 

Oh there is PLENTY of room left on the inside, its just a matter of finding something that is wide enough with the correct offset without breaking the bank.

I think +35-38ish is going to be about as much as we can muster with that much width. +35 puts it at 2mm more which with a more aggressive roll without pulling. +38 is dead even with the 17x9 +22.

+30 on an 18x10.5 puts you 7mm further out than my set was this year... The tire was already about 3-5mm past the fender already before you accounted for camber under load.

I also think that with some tweaking of tire pressures we could run -2 rear camber and be able to tuck meat easier without over gripping the rear of the car preventing rotation.

Oh another note... POWAR!!! I am trying to piece together a turbo back without breaking the bank... Right now I have downpipe picked out, that shorty muffler cut you have, but I cant find a 3" inch mid-pipe. Everything

I read says that the SPT one that I have on my car has a 2.5 donut flange, but then tapers back out to 3". I need to see where in the pipe that taper happens... If its right after the downpipe flange I think cutting that flange off and welding a 3" flat will work just perfect.

 

Duke,
Here's the mid pipe I use. It does take some finagling to get it to fit but for $200 its not bad.

http://www.cntracing.com/Tsudo-2008-2010-Subaru-WRX-STI-5dr-Wagon-76mm-p/20-1261.htm?gclid=COvN8dX29MgCFZQ6gQodP_cJ3Q

 

Do they have one with no resonator or other stuffs in the pipe...

I literally just want a pipe with flanges that is bent to fit. having 2 flanges is no big deal.

 

I didn't want the resonator either so I cut it off and welded in a straight pipe. The only one I could find w/o a resonator was from Nameless and they are $400. There is one from TurboXS but it does not have a flex joint so it will probably break the the welds eventually.

 

Does the nameless one actually work with other exhaust parts though? I heard the nameless stuff was awesome quality but they made it in such a way that it fit the car great but didn't work with other systems.

No flex joint is actually preferred because it shouldn't be moving that much, that's what rubber hangers are for.

 

IIRC no resonator make the exhaust very tinny in sound.
I will be going with nameless performance midpipe as I already have there muffler delete. Which sounds amazing to me.

 

Your muffler delete does sound quite awesome I agree.

The full nameless turbo back sounds VERY nice as well.

It may not be in the budget for this off season but I WILL be doing EL header at some point.

 

Thanks.
From my understanding for power down pipe, headers, and a tune (even OTS) are the best bang for the $. heck there was a notable difference with just a tune, and then with a DP and tune.
Though my off session looks like it is going to be spent on house repairs and saving for some coilovers.:sx:

 

I understand the house thing... We are doing some of that as well.

I am quite happy with my spring\sway bar combo, I think my biggest need right now is power. If feels like you kill me on the smaller tighter courses because you can get out of the hole some much faster.

 

Down Pipe and tune helps greatly with this for sure. I also get on the throttle very early.

 

Are you left foot braking as a form of anti-lag?:squint:

 

Just stab it and steer...

 

So I went up to the dragon for tougefest this past week and did some 265 35 18 mounted on my 9.5" wheel testing...

Tire - 300 Tread wear PSS

It was sorta chilly out but I was still able to get some decent heat in the tires. I filled to 36psi cold and it warmed to about 39, I aired down to 38 and it stayed.

The PSS isn't nearly as hard as the bridgestones and I had about 8psi more air in them. I still had minimal roll over. Given I was on roads with slight banking and very few off camber twists and I wasn't driving 11\10 like I do at autox but I was pretty happy with the test.

I think I am going to do some tire swapping around on the wheels I currently have come autox season and spend my off season doing something else... :naughty:

 

Well it is official now. AWD STU is getting 265s for next year!
http://cdn.growassets.net/user_files/scca/downloads/000/010/260/15-fastrack-December-solo.pdf?1447960820

 

Is that good or bad?

 

Going from 245's, so it may be good thing. It will be interesting to see if they change the PAX or not.

 

2016 PAX is out: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...zL-fw5glVsPuY1RXgazR_2H8U/edit#gid=1298268609

 

I am not finding the official link (Comcast) for the PAX index, but if that is true they are only docking STU 0.060 sec per 60 sec RAW. I think the tires will more than make that up. :sx:

 

SCCA actually has the #s on their site: http://solotime.info/pax/rtp2016.html

I agree!

 

Does anyone want any gram lights with 245 45 17 hoosierstones for $800? :wiggle:

It doesn't look officially official yet, just that it is going to the board for approval as recommended...

 

Hi Fellow Racers!

Sadly I have to put my car up for sale - http://wrxatlanta.com/forums/showthread.php?p=476485#post476485

As I mentioned before and as most of you know, sadly my car spun a bearing at the final race of the season. I've decided to put her up for sale due to bad timing with a new baby, in the middle of house hunting and all funds needing to go elsewhere. I did try getting it fixed to sell or keep, but received two used engines that were either not in great condition or not running perfectly. I've decided that instead of accidentally putting a bad engine in for either I or someone else to deal with that I'll sell my car as-is hoping someone else will fix her to compete again.

I've put so much time, effort and money into making the most competitive, best handling STU car and I'll be sad to see her go (even though others in this thread may not be :wiggle. If you ask anyone who knows the car they'll agree she is ridiculously fast and fun to drive! I have put only the best parts in her to ensure she can take a beating and last. I do plan on still competing as a co-driver next season, so watch out STU if I can secure a ride in our group!

Thanks,
James

 

Boo. BOO I say! BOO!

 

They just posted up the national champ tour dates, who's planning on doing Dixie next year?

 

We usually do Dixie. I'm still in need of a car this year...

 

James is still selling his... Just saying...:wiggle:

 

Has anyone done testing on putting heat reflective tape on the inside or outside of a short ram intake box like the cobb intake? This is mainly directed at miles since I know you did put that stuff all over the place early this year.

 

haha, it was not all over they place....and once I realized I read the rules wrong I took it off.

But to answer your question no. I really never noticed the box getting that hot before. Though I do what to see how it will hold up on the turbo shield.

 

I seem to remember you saying that it actually insulated things causing the heat to rise and stay heat soaked. Like the intercooler.

I think it might be worth time to replace the heat shield with one of the grimmspeed or cobb ones and before installing put some of the reflective tape on the shield. Since the stock one is more rounded than square.

I've been watching my temps during my commute wondering if I could improve on the 130 degree sitting in traffic number to alil bit lower since it has been about 60 degrees outside.

 

Yeah there was some insulating type affects.

For the turbo shield, you must keep the factory for STU. but you are allowed min. modifications to clear aftermarket down pipes. There is a lot of info on this in the STU thread on nasioc.

Traffic is a really hard place to not get heat soak. If you want the temps to come down some, turn your AC off and crack the throttle. This turn off the second fan and keep cool air flowing thru the intercooler. Though these may not be practical in some case, they do 'work' in getting the intake temps down.

 

Of course I would go read the rules before modifying anything. lol

That thread does have ALOT of very useful things in it.

 

What did you just say?

 

Talking about the Cobb SF intake. It can come with a 'heat shield' or box around the air filter. I was just mentioning that I have not tested the affects of 'heat tape' on the box.