griggs81 2006 STI HPDE Car

I'm Chris and I have a '06 STI that I bought new from Gary at Subaru of Gwinnett back in November 2006. I tried to keep my car as close to stock as possible until the warranty was mostly finished and I got another daily driver. I'm glad to say that I bought a daily driver last month (December 2010) so the work on the STI has begun.

I want to give a little back drop on how I got to the current state of my car before I get into the long list of what I would like to do.

The first thing I did was buy the STI with no options, silver with silver rims. The two things I had installed (almost within a month) was a SPT short shifter and the Subaru under-seat sub-woofer. I drove my car around like this until it was broken in.

I changed the oil, then went to a BMW HPDE at Road Atlanta. Boy was that fun, but my shoulders and arms were sore from trying to keep my body upright through the turns during the weekend. Also, I had to press the brakes too hard to get the car to slow down enough preparing for turns. So, the next things that I bought were a harness bar from eBay, 5-point harnesses, stainless steel brake lines, and Hawk HP+ pads.

I went to two more BMW HPDE at Road Atlanta that year and that set-up suited me well enough for 3 years and a total of 8 HPDE with the BMW and Porsche clubs at Road Atlanta. I would have liked to do more with the car, but I ended up buying a foreclosure home and spent most of my money and time on it during 2009 and 2010. The only things I really did during this time was strip out of the back seat/seat belts, radio, speakers, and door cards. I also installed a LiteSpeed rear chassis brace.

That pretty much takes us up to when I bought my daily driver - except for having to replace the whole driver's side of the car after hitting the inside tire wall at turn 7 in summer 2008 . Definitely learned a lot from that experience, like two tires in the wet grass and two on asphalt around a sharp turn will spin the car. All-wheel drive or not.

More later...

 

Welcome Chris!

 

should be nice and loud with the back gutted out.

 

Welcome! Nice write up...

 

Can't wait to hear more. Keep it coming.

And glad to see a supporting member right out of the gate.

 

You are right about being loud. I can hear every little piece of sand the tires throw in the wheel well. Too loud to be talking on the phone at highway speeds too, but worth the weight savings since I don't drive it every day anymore.

 

Part 2

I forgot to mention that I have a Cobb AP v1 with a stage 1 tune loaded into the car. This was to get the car performing how it should have been from the factory. No more hesitation between 2-3.5K RPM and a little more power.

So, December 2010 I bought a used '10 Ford Focus. I did this for many reasons:
1. So I could turn my STI into a dedicated weekend/track car
2. The Focus is actually a fun car to drive and should last a while
3. To get better gas mileage
4. To be able to use regular gas at the pump
5. Cheaper insurance, almost the same price for two cars than just the STI (I thought it would be less overall with both cars, but when I got my bill this month it wasn't - time to work on that)

Back to the STI. I took out the glove box, who would have guessed that it weighs almost 6 lbs. But attached to the back is what looks to be the ECU, so I need to find a good way to mount it. And I'm not sure if it needs to be mounted to plastic (not grounded to metal). I'll be posting that and other things in the technical forum...

Installed an Autometer 3 gauge cluster pod on the A-pillar with boost, oil pressure, and oil temperature gauges. This was a little more involved than I expected installing gauges to be. Running the wires and hoses, installing the sensors, and mounting the gauges took my friend and I almost a full day to complete! However, the gauges look and work great.

My parents are awesome and got me a set of used Hoosier R6s (245/40-17) for my car. I haven't used them yet, but I'm guessing that I'll have use slicks at the track now. I probably won't be able to go back to a high performance street tire $$ .

Next, I installed a RCE Kool brake kit and put some NASCAR blowers on the hoses to get enough cool air to the brakes. This was quite a chore to do too as I retained most of the dust/heat shield, ran the hose and wiring. I ended up just having the duct work an blowers right underneath the car near the wheel well instead of running them to the fog light area. It looked like it would be a major pain in the butt for me to run them all the way up front. I'll wait until I start stripping things out of the engine bay to reassess this. Also, I'm flushing the brake system (like I do every year) with better brake fluid this time. I'm using ATE Blue so that I can make sure I get all the old fluid out and have a higher boiling point. I'll look at using Motul 600 if the ATE doesn't cut it this year.

So, a little bit about the HPDEs that I attend. I have managed to progress in the BMW CCA to group B and Group 3 in the PCA. My goal is to become an instructor eventually and take some people around the track with me. I know it is an eye opening experience for anyone who hasn't been in a very fast car with a very fast driver. Some people love it and for others once is enough.

That catches us up to January 2011. Hopefully there will be many updates to this post this year.

 

Sounds like you have a good start to the car. Keep us posted!

 

drove the wagon gutted for a while, too loud for a DD

 

Wish/Task List for the Future

So, here is the list of things that I plan or want to do in rough order. My overall goal is better safety and handling over more power. Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions with the list or order of the list.

Upgrades to consumables:
1. Better brake pads (have Hawk HP+ now) - looking at Hawk Blue or DTC-70. Any recommendations here?DONE - Carbotech XP12 and XP 10s
2. Better rotors - DBA 4000. I've seen some people recommend Auto Zone rotors, but I'm not sure if they would hold up on the track...DONE - Just went stock, they last so long...
3. Lighter weight flywheel once the clutch needs to be replaced Found out this isn't good on these cars...

Upgrades to the Car:
1. Remove A/C - Actually decided to keep this in
2. Front strut tower brace - Found out that this really isn't necessary on this car
3. Front splitter - I'm now scared of speed bumps when the car is lowered...
4. Larger rear diffuser
5. Welded in roll-cage and new racing seats (driver and passenger) - any recommendation on where to get the roll-cage installed would be appreciated. Also taking out the airbag system in this step.DONE - Thank you Robinson Racing for your awesome fabrication skillz
6. Upgraded suspension (coil-overs, beefier cowl stays, camber plates, ALK, sway bars, rear control arms, and 4 corner balancing).
7. Replace intake and exhaust systems. Also getting a stage 2 Protune at the same time, but not too aggressive. I would like to maintain some reliability and keep heat in check. Invidia Downpipe and Borla Exhaust sounds so good...
8. Lightweight battery whenever my red-top Optima battery craps out (which will probably be a while)
9. Replacing steel car parts with carbon fiber to lessen weight - maybe.

 

If you are only going to track the car I would get a 2 piece rotor.....actually I would get a set of 6 pistons stoptechs but thats just me.

Matt

P.S. You should swing by TopSpeed next week and take a look at my track car\ daily maybe I can help out with some ideas.

 

also, im assuming you probably already know. but check around for a lot of those parts used. MOST of that stuff (minus your wear items obviously) can be found at DEEP discounts on NASIOC, ebay, and even here from time to time. sounds like you got a great setup and are going in the right direction

 

lawl - i've heard that before

OP - go with a good set of CarboTech brake pads if you're going to keep the stock brembo setup. I ran XP12's up front, XP10's in the back. They're pricey, but worth their weight in gold. You also don't really need a front strut brace as the strut towers are close enough to the firewall and pretty rigid. However, the rear X-brace will definitely help. However, if you're going for a cage, that will stiffen up the chassis. If you're not going for power, you've already got one of the best mods in really good tires.

 

http://www.godspeedbrakes.co.uk/~godspeed/product.php?id_product=28

 

Hopefully I'll see you at RA. Best three things that you'll notice the most are (1)sways (and ditch the stock springs), (2)high temp brake fluid and Carbotech pads, and (3)tires. Next would be a good aligment.

When you go to the slicks, your brakes will be the first thing to fail if you're still on stock fluid. You'll be pulling higher entry speeds and shorter brake distances pretty quickly, and your brakes are going to get HOT as hell.

I'd take Matt up on his offer and check out his car.

 

Matt,

I would like to stop by sometime in the future, but I'll need to wait until a little later in the year (I would probably want something done immediately after seeing it). I actually called TopSpeed around September/October and spoke to you about getting a better suspension set-up, but decided to wait until I finished some other things on the car first. I look forward to eventually meeting you and maybe some of the cars you have worked on.

 

Sounds good man, I'm looking forward to getting out to some events this year. Let me know which ones you are going to be at maybe you can come for a ride along.

 

Thank you for your opinion on the brake pads. I have heard many good things about the CarboTech pads but I've only used the Hawk HP+. I'm going to keep the Brembo set-up so I will be looking into the CarboTech's along with Hawk DTC. How often did you have to change the rotors using the XP12's (3,4, etc. sets of pads)?

 

Once you go to the Carbotechs you won't ever go back to the hawks.

On the Hoosiers you can get away with a XP12 in the front and a XP10 in the back. You will be able to go through 3 or 4 sets of pads before you have to change rotors most likely.

If you start killing rotors and fading those pads then you will know its time to step up to a big brake kit.

Matt

 

I used the stock rotors, never even had them turned. I would put on stock pads for street use, carbs for track days. Takes about a day to bed the pads back and forth, but I never had any issues with them.

When I sold the car, the rotors could use a turning, but they were still in good shape. That was with 42k miles (though a lot of those were highway miles).

You'll also definitely need ATE super blue or Motul. I lost brakes at Little Tally coming out of the nascar turn at 110+, definite pucker factor 11. Matt was actually riding shotgun with me when it happened. I was running ATE, but I hadn't yet upgraded to S.S. lines and I still had the dust shields on the back of the rotors (would definitely recommend removing).

 

Coming along nicely! I wish I had the funds to have 2 cars, one dedicated to DD and the other for track/AX use. But I'll take a solid dual-purpose STI.

 

There comes a point where you get really sick of swapping pads and rumbling around all stiff and noisy on the street to and from work. A second car doesn't have to cost alot, but it does help when it's as fun as an STi in one way or another.

 

I'm sure I'll reach that point, eventually, but living in an apartment borrowing the parent's garage/driveway when I need it works for me, now.

I'd love a 06/07 WRX wagon to daily and my STI for the weekends, though. :naughty:

 

I'm trying to attend every BMW CCA and PCA event at Road Atlanta this year (depending on car, $$, vacations, etc.). I've already signed up for the March BMW event. Hopefully, I'll see you at one of the events or when I go out to TopSpeed sometime this year.

 

I also have had very good luck with the stock rotors. I have another pair that are almost new (bought off of NASOIC for like $120) that I'm going to put on after my March BMW HPDE. I don't see too many good, cheap, stock rotors on the boards so I'm planning on going to the DBA 4000's after I wear the stock ones down.

Just bled the brakes a few weeks ago with ATE blue. I'll move to the Motul if I have any problems. I installed SS brake lines and put on the RCE Kool brake kit, but left the dust shields on there (cut out a hole for the Kool kit though) for now. I also have NASCAR fans forcing air into the 3" hoses. Hopefully, that will be enough to keep the brakes working for a while.

 

I got tired of not having a stereo, door cards, and back seat in my daily driver in addition to all those other things...

I was originally looking at cars around $4-6k for my daily driver, but soon realized that waiting and saving up for a car around $10-12k gives you a car that is more than 2x as good. So that's what I did even though it took quite a bit longer to reach my goal of having two cars. BTW, the Focus is a fun, inexpensive car even though it has pretty bad torque steer at times...

 

Not to be an ass but 110 on the exit of that turn is hard to believe, Also why were you on the brakes at the exit? Did you mean the entrance of the following left hand turn? If so What happened? Not a good turn to go off on...

 

yeah, going into the next turn, but you come out of that turn short shifted into fourth, so you're probably doing ~80mph. Kicked it sideways, slid into the U-turn with my hands shaking. Ball just looked over at me, calm as could be, said...good...kept all four wheels on track

 

is that where a black bugeye did some landscaping?

 

that's the one...damn track deer jump outta no where

 

Slight OT, but what is the "Nascar turn" at LTGP...? Since I'm going to my first track day there in March, I'd love some details...

 

it's the banked turn right where you enter on track

you don't need much detail for LT, it's about this big |----| and each corner's apex is really easy to spot. Great track for first timers as a stg II STi will only hit about 120-130. It's a great place to practice technical driving (and rape brakes)

 

Gotcha. I've looked at the track map and satellite photos and I'm not 100% sure exactly where you enter the track, but I'll see it when I get there.

I have friends that went there last year and that's what they said about LTGP, especially the killing your brakes part.

 

I've got some parts you may be interested in...I had them in my '06 STI that I recently sold:

1) Bolt-in Autopower rollbar - for $500 I got Robinson Racing in Cumming to weld in some support plates for the rear and bottom mounting points which provided a very secure setup to help prevent this:
http://bit.ly/h9PVev

2) OMP Record 2 seat and OMP TRS seat

3) Two G-Force six-point racing harnesses

4) Tire trailer

5) Set of stock STI wheels with Nitto NT01s (~70% wear)

6) Set of front Carbotech XP12 pads (~20% wear -1 track weekend)

7) Set of rear Carbotech XP10 pads (~60% wear)

Speaking of Carbotech, use their pads....I've gotten MUCH better performance/wear out of them than the competition.

 

^^^^ You sold your car?:eek4:
What happened?

 

Peak mph for a stage 2 sti out there is ~104, maybe ~108's TOPS if the car has a nasty tire/suspension set-up and driver who is willing to skate it through nascar.

My brothers c6z peaks speeds on a vbox were ~120, in my wagon making about 280whp, holding 1.2+ lat g's through nascar(very good, especially considering the 4+year old re070's...), with a 3rd gear that went to ~105(means i didnt have to shift coming out of nascar all the way down the back straight) topped out at ~103 before i get on the binders for the bowl.

 

If you don't take a stage 2 past 120 on the back stretch, you don't know how to drive your car. Regardless, this isn't about a track day, it's about OPs track car. If you don't believe me, I don't give two shits, but there are at least 5 people on here who were either there or in the car with me

 

how accurate is your speedo?

 

That is the link I've been looking for, best example of how NOT to install a cage.

 

Ok kid.

 

Not trying to start a fight here but Drew is right, If your brother is only hitting 120 in a c6z he is doing something really wrong. A Stage2 STI driven well is a 120 ish mph car.

On street tires in a well setup Subaru I enter the Nascar turn at close to 100mph. I would say in Dougs 08 when it was stage 2 entry was probably 90-95mph, exit speed is over 105 mph

 

Well out of the 6 times ive been there with various group's, 120 on the straights have been reserved for 400+whp cars. Maybe you guys are relying on the suby inaccurate speedo? Ever put a vbox in the car? Got any data? If not, I bet if you put a box in the car i bet you would be very surprised. If you do, my bad...i was wrong.

I would consider both you and doug to be what i would consider "much better then average set-up car" with a driver who knows his way behind the wheel(note:big sticky tire with more then alittle thought into the suspension).

What kind of lap time you guys running? Better be atleast 1:06's to no only be able to maintain that much speed but to keep it rolling down the back straight.


My box time. 1:11 flat with 103 mph peak speeds.



OP...sorry for the thread jack. At this point im curious, ive had the vbox in alot of cars but never a well set-up sti "stage 2"...even the cammed evo i put the box didnt click over 113mph.

 

I've ran high 1:08s in a bone stock sti before and I ran 1:05.4 in Dougs 08 STI Stage 2. I probably have as many or more laps on Little Tally than just about anyone you have ever met.

I have real data aq for my car and I'm quite sure about the speeds.

Edit 1:05.4s was on BC coilovers and Advan AD08s. On a race tire and more spring rate I think that same car would likely go 1:03s.

 

Hey man, i believe you. Just wouldnt expect the "average" stage 2 guy to be pulling those kinds of lap time, or even running a set of 1k plus ad08's. Ive seen enough cars go around that track to know better then be casually saying any stage 2 sti will with out a doubt click off 120mph on the back straight. Am i wrong here?

 

The average stage 2 guy should be able to run between 1:10 and 1:08 pretty easily. If they can't its because they have the wrong coach or suspension setup.

Speed on the back straight is all about corner exit speed. Most people get the higher speed corners wrong at tgp.

 

I agree on those times, dont agree on the mph. `120mph should mean the car and driver have what it takes to be in the 1:06 range...atleast for a street tire car.

 

120mph has very little to do with the lap time itself. I'm just telling you that the bottom line is a well tuned and driven stage 2 car is capable of going 120mph. Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Drews first time on track there in his Subaru I got him to below a 1:10 and without having data on the car I'm not comfortable quoting what his mph was but I can guarantee you that it was over the 108mph.

 

Yeah my estimates were certainly off. I believe that a well set-up and well driven stg 2 car can, just didnt and still dont think that tossing that 120-130mph topspeed on tally for any given stage 2 sti...well shit i just didnt think it was accurate is all.

I was predicting solid 1:09's in my stg 2 04 i just picked up, seems i was pretty spot one. Ill vbox my runs when i go.

 

I don't put much faith in a stock speedo but that arrogant little bastard can drive