A kid and his 2008 WRX.

My 08 wrx journal.

So my approach has changed a lot. I've realized that I put a lot of miles on the car and that it sees a LOT of daily grind duty on the treacherous streets of atlanta. So my mod approach has become a lot more practical. For example, she's rockin the 16s right now because I love the way the car rides with the larger sidewall. With the right tires it'll still handle great without having to swerve around every single pothole i come across.

So here's what I'm thinking now:

Current mods:
Turboback and reflash

I want to dive into the suspension next, and financially I might be able to kinda soon. I'm thinking of going with a relatively simple but effective setup. I was thinking STI struts with a conservative lowering spring and some sizeable sway bars. This way I'd get a slightly firmer ride, less body roll, and more responsiveness and control without rattling my teeth out everyday and without slamming the car to the ground. I'd also go for some additional bracing around the car, as the chassis in stock form is quite flexible, unfortunately. Add to that some beefier tires, like a 235 width. Probably BFG SuperSport all seasons. That, combined with some select extra power mods will probably complete the car. (famous last words) A mild turbo upgrade down the road just to shift the powerband higher would be awesome, but nothing crazy. The TD04 just runs out of steam rather early.

Now I've read that the 08 suspension geometry responds very poorly to lowering. Anyone who can shed any light on this? Its just something I've heard. I do need a little help in the suspension department so those gurus on the boards (we all know who they are) chime on in!

Current picture:


In any case I've learned a lot about my car thanks mostly to you guys. Stay tuned!:wiggle:

 

Looking good. Good luck.

 

no turbo timer

and do your warranty might be out the window

 

Go WRB WRX!!!

 

Most of the heavy, warranty voiding stuff with come well after my warranty expires. I believe it's for 36,000 miles. Thanks for the heads up about the timer though! I've heard mixed things.

 

Just remember if you plan on autoxing some more those mods will bump you car into a class where it will be relatively uncompetitive locally with out r-comps and not competitive at all beyond the local level. Have fun otherwise!

 

love the 08

 

nice car. but unless you're running 500+hp and some non-oil AND water cooled turbo (the VF39 is both, and is an excellent choice btw), you don't need a turbo timer. the factory routing of oil and water lines through the turbo is more than sufficient

 

Nice write up. Just to toss a question out there, what are the gains of going from a TD04 to a VF39? I have searched it on the web and haven't found much in depth comparison comparing the performance. I think Russ here has a better platform to build off of with a 2.5 unlike my 2.0, but have many people here done that upgrade on their WRX?

 

Update! Just got the alcantara pieces in the car today.

They're...pretty much incredible. Pics soon!

 

very nice. I cant believe Subaru is stilling using that boost gauge.

 

hey, did they use a different transmission in the 08's? i'm going to assume it would be a carry over from the legacy or is it not?
can it go past 300hp unlike the 02-07's?

i haven't seen any 08's around at all, but they're starting to grow on me, nice man

 

AtlxPat, I believe you're correct about the transmission being a carryover from the legacy, as the kartboy SS for both cars are the same part. Just seems to be a good indication.

And Weapon, I'm not sure if the gauge is going to be a factory option, I just managed to make it work on my car when it came off of an '04....but it works!

 

love the write up Russ....made me *giggle* Bwahahahahaha

 

I am not sure if they still are, but its out of my car

Speaking of alcantara stuff...These are prototype pieces essentially and we've already adjusted the pattern since these were installed yesterday afternoon. If the shift knob had a collar (like the std wrx knobs) the boot would be a little different up top and mimic the more standard way the shift boot sits.





http://wrxatlanta.com/forums/showthread.php?p=227117

 

Love the car, Bring it buy sometime. Would love to look at it!

Enjoy it!

Tray M

 

Thanks! I've been meaning to come by topspeed just to see what the place is like. I hear you guys are awesome and have some serious power floating around that shop.

Note on the boots, I've recently done some adjusting to the top of the boot myself, so it seats a little more cleanly as of right now. That knob has no collar, but rather the boot is being supported by kind of a nut and washer assembly that shipped with the knob. Still, as you can see, the quality is excellent.

I'm a 10th street JDM Prototype car.

 

Nice writeup, and I just passed you on campus. Turbo timer is all personal preference, I often find myself in a hurry so I dont have time to let the car idle. I know subaru says its not necessary but it certainly wont hurt anything letting it idle for a little bit, after all the money I spent on this new motor I'm taking all the precautions I can get to keep it together, I'm sure you can agree.

 

time to get the tail light spray trans red or tint

 

Update: I just came home from the muffler shop. They took out my middle exhaust resonator for the lowly sum of 40 dollars. It didn't make too much of a difference, but the exhaust note is marginally deeper, and it's a slight reduction in backpressure, so I guess it was worth it. Definitely not the sound bump I was thinking it would be. The guy there who manages the shop reccomended a flowmaster axle-back now that I have an essentially straight 2.5" midpipe. He says he's seen a lot of wrx guys come in looking for a more aggressive sound, and the flowmasters give the best results he's seen yet, along with a marginal power increase. I'll be doing that next, probably. He said a full 3" catback could be had for around 300, and an axle back for around 150. Nice.

 

cool, I guess they cut and welded a straight piece of piping? How are the welds, I am looking for a shop to weld a couple of pieces, thanks.

 

The work looks really well done, as a matter of fact, and it only took about 45 mins. The guys there know cars and are really nice.

They're the Midas located on Northside drive near the intersection with 10th street.

 

Sounds like you have some serious plans for it!

although a few of those you might want to modify. The prodrive springs probably won't happen, a)no prodrive usa b)I'm pretty sure older stuff will even work on the 08.

However some PFF7's would look awesome on that car!

I've heard that doing swaybars will greatly help your cars handling.

 

Eibach just released a set of performance springs for the 08. I want some.

http://www.directtuning.com/store/pc-68021-60-EIB-7717.140.aspx

A set of these maaaay be in the works in the next couple of months.

 

drop it like its hooooooooooottt

 

Great write up man!


WRBATL for life baby!!! LOL

 

I don't think so. Is that what you have on your car alex?

I've kinda had my eye on some Eibachs, though. My dad actually has a set on his 911, I believe. The ride is firm but not bouncy, and the body roll, at least on that car, is next to nil. Plus is looks like the drop from the Eibachs will be perfect.

 

My car may be getting a present pretty soon. :naughty:



"A direct replacement for the factory springs, the COBB Tuning Sport Springs are designed to enhance the performance of the factory struts. By reducing the ride height by 1.5" in the front and 1.25" in the rear, the result is an aggressive stance that will reward you with little "squat" while under hard acceleration.

In an effort to induce a more balanced feel, the Spring Rates are approximately +10% for the front and +20% for the rear over stock. The result is a sporty feel without being unnecessarily harsh or bouncy. Our final spring rates are the result of extensive real-world and road course testing.

Made from precision CNC cold wound high quality Chrome Silicon steel construction and powdercoated COBB Blue in a unique process for protection against the elements."

And here's what the drop looks like, apparently:
Before:


After:


I'm excited, to say the least.

So who on here has done a lot of spring installs and likes beer?!

 

Nice!

 

Ok well, after the meet on saturday and all the beautiful boxer rumbling going on, I decided I need an exhaust and that the springs can wait. In that vein, I just ordered a magnaflow 3" "Wide open" muffler through S&S Muffler on Northside drive, and it'll be here tomorrow morning. I'll be going in wednesday morning around 9:30 to have the exhaust made. They're making me a full 3" cat back with a 3.5 or 4 inch tip (haven't decided yet). In the words of Rodger, the fella who is going to install it: "This shit's gon' be rowdy as hell, man." Also, the price is right at around 300 bucks. The guys up there are pretty awesome, btw. Bunch of serious good ol' boys.

In any case, I'm so freaking excited. I'm hoping General Alex will let me borrow his pimp ass camera mount so I can get a sound clip up in the next week or so.

 

isn't magnaflow for mustangs? Correct me if I'm wrong but won't you need some sort of EM with a 3.5-4.0 exhaust?

 

It's just a catback. It'll be 3" all the way back with just the tip flaring out to 3.5" or so. There shouldn't be any need for EM until i go with a downpipe.

And the magnaflow I ordered is specifically designed for turbo applications. it's straight through. Not baffled like the flowmasters you're thinking of.

 

The EJ257's can run into boost creep issues on cold days but ya know... he's only running stock boost pressure. EM helps!

 

That's awesome man, you're definitely going to have to let us now how that goes. I've been putting more and more thought about going this route with my exhaust eventually. I'm curious about the sound

 

RUSS!!!! All your mods look awesome so far!! That new exhaust is gonna be balla as all hell!!! Good call, picking the exhaust over the springs. Forget speed or handling; for the time being, your car needs character. Deep, raspy, rumbly, angry, raw, Subaru boxer-engine character. I can't wait to hear it!

k thx bye

 

Thanks adam!

I'll let you guys know how it comes out. I'll probably be at the varsity thursday night just for shits and giggles if you guys wanna hear it in person then.

 

Got the exhaust on! :wiggle:

Full three inch from the downpipe back. :bigthumb: Yes, it's crush bent, but it's also dead straight until the rear differential, as in zero bends, and even past that he made it to the exhaust cutout in the valance with suprisingly little drama. It flows like a bitch, in short. :naughty: lol They also charged me 300 bucks, which is less than half the price of your average three inch cat back, so I'm not complaining. They even worked up a 4 inch polished tip for me. They took one of those giant diesel truck tips and shortened it (a lot) and put it on there. It looks great, I think.

The guy who installed it was named Rodger. Totally awesome guy. He let me watch and was real friendly. He'd been building exhaust and racing for like 17 years. Three customers told me they'd never met anyone who is better with exhaust work.

As for how it works, the turbo spool is noticeably faster, and the sound is perfect. A smooth, low, muscular, reasonably loud rumble. Not raspy or annoying at all, with a great burble on lift-throttle. It's how a Subaru should sound, IMHO. For the record I used a Magnaflow "Wide Open" straight through muffler, part number 11229.

Anyway, I got some pictures with my cell phone that are of reasonable quality, so I'll post those up tonight when I get some time. Cheers.

 

get a downpipe next!

 

That's the plan. He used the stock flange (and thus about an inch of the stock midpipe, then he flared it out to the 3"), so any downpipe that'll fit the stock exhaust will fit my new one.

Plan is: AP first, then DP. EM ftw.

 

lol, and bring that thing to the V tomorrow night so we can hear it

 

It's not overly loud at all, honestly, and I like it. It's not all like "BWAAAAAAAAAPSHmmmmBWAAAAAAAAA." It's more of a thrum. Sounds like a V8.

And who else is coming to the V tomorrow?

 

I might roll through kind of early, but Thursday is trivia night with friends so I can't stay long.

Glad the exhaust is working for you man! I'm looking forward to hearing it around campus.

 

Had a little fun on eBay today. Picked up the following.

These in white:


This in silver for (most likely) atop the windshield. Just a little WRC flair:


And a 2 pack of these from Nasioc:


Not entirely sure if the windshield banner will make it onto the car, but it was all of 8 dollars shipped, and it's made of the same 7 year vinyl as the WRXAtl decals. As for the Manga pigs, I've been wanting a set for awhile. I don't care if it makes me a ricer.

I'm sure this is all terribly exciting to you guys, but I thought I would share.

Hopefully I'll have an exhaust clip up soon.

 

ricer.... :rofl:

Are we still doing springs soon??

 

I was waiting for someone to call me a ricer.

Thanks ped, but the springs are on hold for a bit. I decided just to go with a catback right now. Probably should have messaged you...so my bad. Within the next year I'll probably be dropping the dough for springs and sway bars, so I'll definitely call you then. :bigthumb:

 

Thanks to slowsoul for the video of my car at the dyno day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM5cKVyTbBg

Listen to that baby rumble!

205hp/242tq! FTW!

 

sounds great man! Can't wait to hear it in person.