Liltoua's Little Black Beast

What pressures did you run? Also, use a gauge that you can bleed out the air each run as the tires heart up.
Just as an example: http://tinyurl.com/psv78gp
That's kind of pricy.
I ran 36frt/38rear. I usually run 37/38, but the slow 200° was killing me, taking it down 1 psi helped hold the front mid-turn.

 

Went out for a little improv shoot. A friend of mines took the photo.

 

Looking good!

 

So I got a hold of a rear subframe along with the R180 and 5x114 conversion and I figure now would be a good time to upgrade everything while I'm at it. I really don't need a r180 HAHA, but I guess it's in preparation for power. It's funny because most people do the motor first and then everything else. I did all the suspension stuff first, but still on the 2.0L motor lol. Also matched the rear with the GD front aluminum control arms . Will be spending this weekend to try and throw everything in before Formula D.




I think I found out where the source of the leak is coming from LOL




Anyways got the GD subframe torn down and cleaning it up. So far just took off my old WRX brakes to sell off and just re sealing the R180 and making it look shiny again. Got lots of work to do this weekend.

 

do the subframe/t-bar bushings and diff bushings while you have it out
TiC is your friend

pretty sure you can swap those LCA bushings we burned out a few years back

 

Yep! Actually just got the subframe bushings in from TiC yesterday :naughty:. Trying to replace the most common things so that I don't have to drop that rear subframe ever again. I was thinking about swapping the LCA bushings, but I'm not sure if I can get those metal sleeves out on the stock GD arms. Can those be pressed out...or do I have to cut them like we did last time?

 

they should just slide out or tap out, did you swap the gas tank for the larger capacity WRX one?

 

No . I wanted to do that all at once since the subframe was going to be out, but I couldn't get a hold of a GD gas tank.

 

Your car was posted up on the nasioc facebook page yesterday. Had a bunch of people drooling over it haha.

 

That seems to be the common reaction, and well deserved reaction imo. Great build! Suspension first!

 

This weekend was a very busy weekend for me. First off I would like to introduce you to the new toy I've acquired.






I couldn't pass up on the deal. I've been bumming and riding all my friends bikes for over 4 years now and I figure it was my turn to actually own one HAHA. My friend was getting out of the 2 wheel game and sold me this 09 Ninja ZX6R with only 1400 miles on it! So I spent half the weekend just doing maintenance to it since it has been sitting in his garage for over a year now. Anyways pretty excited...now I have two money pits LOL.



Now onto the important part. I also worked on my car a bit this weekend. Finally got the old rear subframe out from under the car. I went to go take off the ABS sensor and the damn bolt snapped off with half the thread still stuck in the hub. Overall though dropping the rear wasn't to bad. I just started unbolting everything HAHA.


Old Subframe





New Subframe





I decided that it was probably a smart idea to fill up the rear diff before I dropped it in because if anyone has done it before...knows it's a pain in the ass to fill it up while the diff is mounted. I went to go fill the diff and then ran out of fluid so that stopped my progression for the day. Going to run to the dealership to pick up more fluid today and hopefully have the rear subframe at least mounted.


Here's all the parts I've collected for the swap. Some stuff are missing in the picture, but it's the majority of it :naughty:

 

What's the blue parts? That's a BEEFY looking part.

 

Bike looks awesome man! I've been browsing for bikes lately. I've been tossing the idea around for a while now.

My buddy had a 2008 zx6r, and man that thing was fun.

 

trailing arms

 

Yep b reel got it right, it's trailing arms

Yea they did some major upgrades to the 09 from the 08. So far I'm loving the bike, but my priorities are on the car first. I will always be a car guy, but a little bit of fun on 2 wheels never hurt

 

Whoa. Never knew you'd be one for bikes. That's awesome. I'll definitely get a bike in the future.

 

im not usually a bike guy but yours looks nice

 

So I ran into a couple small (big) problems the other day. I went to go take off my rear brembos off and of course the freakin bolt stripped. Common problems on these rear brakes, but just sucks because it just set me back a couple days. Going to get a helicoil kit and fix it up.

The next problem that I ran into was that my driveshaft doesn't line up with the diff. I was previously running an automatic driveshaft with a repin R160. I thought that everything was going to work and all I had to do was mount up the R180 and bolt it down....WRONG. Did some research and it looks like the R160 and R180 have a different flange at the end where it mounts to the driveshaft.

Then I figure I would go ahead and install my APR extended studs while I have to wait on things. knocked out the old studs only to find out that the only way to install the new studs is to get the hub pressed out. So that means that I will have to take a trip to Ball Racing to see if he can get everything done for me. Looks like this is going to take longer than expected.

 

Nice color combo on the bike. I know the mirrors are for safety, but with out them makes the bike look more sleek. But nice purchase

 

sorry to hear about the setbacks... At least you have a bike to have fun on while the car is out of commission!

 

Toua, That sure looks like a dream build with your component selection those are the lateral links and trailing arms on my wishlist.

 

They always say if you're going to do it, do it right the first time. Well....I can find 100+ things better to spend $250 bucks with, but I guess I'm a little to committed to try and cut corners. In order to put my rear extended studs on I need to press out the bearings and pretty much replace them after being pressed out so I had to buy brand new ones. Figure I would replace the seals while I'm at it. Unfortunately my money doesn't grow on trees so this hurts the pockets a bit haha

 

So I got a lot done this weekend. The first thing that I addressed was my brothers STI. It was leaking from the oil cooler gasket. I figure I would go ahead and swap it out before it got any worse. The install wasn't too bad, but I went through two gaskets. The first time around the damn gasket didn't set right when I bolted up the oil cooler. It didn't set properly so as I tighten up the bolt the gasket moved and I pretty much tore it in half. The second time around I oiled JUST the top of the gasket that sits on the block and it went on better.


Before




After



Then I moved onto my car . I picked up all my stuff from Ball Racing, BTW they did an AWESOME job on everything. Got my APR extended studs pressed in along with new bearings and oil seals. I also dropped off my brembos to get them re-threaded. As I went to go put everything on, I found out that the other brembos were also stripped so I have to make another trip over to Ball to get them fixed. I can't seem to catch a break from all of this.







Then I went to tackle the driveshaft. Thanks again to J_P for donating the driveshaft. I will put it into good use!! I compared the two driveshaft and they are very different just visually. You can defiantly tell that the STI driveshaft is beefier and heavier than the auto driveshaft. Anyways everything bolted up perfectly.

Auto (Left) STI (Right)



Auto (Bottom) STI (Top)



Auto (Right) STI (Left)



Then I spent the rest of the day bolting up all the rear subframe. Everything should be in minus the rear brakes. I'm deciding if I want to go ahead and upgrade the rotors and pads now or just wait. The funds are not so hot right now due to purchase of the bike, but I can't stand looking at the stock rusted rotors haha. Anyways things are getting closer. After the rear is done I have to tackle the front.






Almost done!!!!

 

Holy moly you did some work. Your RS is gonna live forever. lol

 

did you put new bushings on the T-bar and sub-frame?

 

Yep I replaced the T-bar bushings, but the subframe itself doesn't have any bushings (I don't think). I was reading it up because I wanted to replace as much as I could and read that the 05 STI does not have any bushings inbetween where it mounts to the chassis. I double checked my brothers STI and confirmed it. Kind of weird, because the stock 2.5RS subframe had rubber bushings...

 

Progress WAS going good until I was stopped by a stupid axle dust ring. They call it a baffle plate...which confuses me because when I think baffle plate I think oil pan LOL. Anyways I popped in the front axle and started to impact the axle and the ring must have shifted so I destroyed the ring. That stopped progression because no dealerships were open and no local automotive store carried and axle for any subarus.



Anyways the rear is officially done. Just have to tinker with the adjustable arms a bit. The wheels look a bit off. Decided to just go ahead and order new pads and rotors in the rear in fear of stripping the rear bolts again.



The fronts are almost done. Just had to swap out the bottom collars to accept the 5x114 knuckle and swap out the front control arms for the STI aluminum ones. I also ripped my whiteline lower ball joints while taking them off . They were still in good shape. Also installed my extended studs.

 

Link to the extended studs you used?

 

I think they make a longer one than this, but these are the ones I got.

http://www.rallysportdirect.com/ARP-Extended-Wheel-Studs-5-Pack-Subaru-Models-Inc-2002-2011-WRX-STI

 

Car is finally back on the road!!!! The alignment is REALLY screwed up, but hopefully I can find time tomorrow to head to the alignment shop. Swapped out the front control arms, rear subframe, trailing arms, and lateral links so who knows what the alignment is at HAHA. I just eye balled everything for now so that the car can at least drive straight.

Ran into some more issues while putting everything together so things took a bit longer than expected. I'm now running STI front axles after having issues with the front end of the car. The STI axles are a lot beefier than the WRX axles....so I guess it's kind of an upgrade? Anyways took it out for a test drive and everything seems to be okay minus a weird noise that's coming from the front driver side wheel. It's no a metal sound, but more like rubber hitting something. It's only present when I'm over 45mph. Didn't have time to check it out today, but hopefully the alignment shop will be able to see something when they put it on a lift.

 

Dude you sure don't help me suppress the want to build up a GC8.....I LOVE your car. I just keeps getting better and better.

 

Got my alignment today! Everything is great minus a weird noise that I'm getting that's coming from the front driver side wheel. When It was on the rack I took a look at that side and I couldn't find anything.The only thing that threw me off was I found grease on the steering rack boot and the steering rack itself, but I just put in brand new axles on both sides. It seriously sounds like a sprinkler system. It only happens when I'm 20mph or over and the noise disappears when I'm below that. Do I have a bad axle?

 

Wheel bearing?

 

Are you running fender liners? I had the same type of weird sound almost like something was stuck on the tire. It only happened once I was above 20-30 and increased with speed. The metal tab that connects the liner to the fender was the culprit. I would have sworn it was something stuck to the tire.

I absolutely love your vision and direction with this car. The driveshaft could not have gone to a better cause.

 

Yea I was thinking of that as well...but I can't be to sure yet. I'm going to take apart that side this weekend and inspect a bit closer.

Thanks for the drive shaft again J_P!!! It's been serving me well! I'm not running any fender liners at the moment, but if you experienced that issue then mines must be similar. I'm going to pull everything apart this weekend and check for anything unusual.

 

dat ass. :bowdown:

stance, tuck, amazing.

when you want hit me up, let's ride up to this spot I have by the lake off PIB and take some pictures of ours.

I don't even have tinted windows let alone a stance lol, but I can raise my hood? :rofl:

 

Im down lol!

 

I love this car! Pretty curious about your opinion of the Invo's I saw you've had them since december? Maybe a short review of them I am thinking these will be my next tires since I haven't liked the Dunlop, Kumho and Yokohama's Iv'e had. Granted the Yoko's were my favorite so far.

 

Michelin PSS.....end question.

 

One of the guys that help develop the INVO works with me now and he advised me to look elsewhere if you are looking for a serious performance tire. If you are just buying for looks, they are fine.

 

Finally figured out the ticking noise!!! Kind of scary, but my steel braided lines were hitting the inside of my wheels. There was to much slack and the lines stuck out to far. Took a zip tie to it to hold it down for now. It chewed off a good bit, but it's still holding fluid. Probably going to order a new set for the fronts just to be safe....brakes are kinda important LOL.

HAHA I would have to agree with them.

Like integroid said, if you want to buy them for looks then they are good tires. They do work well in the rain as well, but as for high performance I didn't like them. I autocrossed twice with these and they started to suffer once you got them heated up. It was a skating ring out there for me.

 

Yea, the INVO's are good "Performance" summer tires. Really good in the rain and pretty good dry traction. But it is not meant to be a dedicated track tires. I did sorta recommend it to liltoua, sorry man! lol.

 

Glad you got it figured out! I have a set of braided lines. I am not sure if they are the same though. Never used from StopTech.

 

Awesome! Yea I figured that all subaru brake lines are the same, but I'll do some reseach and then reach out to you.

 

Invos are not that great in the rain. They are okay on dry. My girlfriend has the 245s/285s on her Genesis and having taken her car to the mountain a couple of times and driven her car for about a year with it..they grip pretty decent on dry, but when pushed hard, not so great in rain. If anything, the discontinued Continental DW gripped better BOTH on dry and wet on my Coyote and I had about 200% more hp to the wheels than the gen.
I will admit...they look sexy as hell though.

I think MPSS is a good compromise between a DD and a spirited/track driven car.

Toua, nice looking car!

 

I guess we both can only speak based on experience. I had the continental DW before I had the INVO's and I thought they are way better in the rain than the DW's. My coworker also has it on his mustang gt and he also likes it better than the DW's

 

Damn man! I lost my brakes one time because of the same thing. Do your coilovers not have brake line mounts?

 

the mounting points for the lines are in a different location between a GC and the GD body styles.

 

Yea now I know why I was rubbing like crazy LOL

Yea like b reel said, it must be b/c our mounting points are different. With the 05-07 STI brembo brakes, the lines are mounted upside down if you're looking at it from the top. So I had it bolted to the coilovers, but the lines were so long and there is so much slack that when I mounted it I didn't realize that the lines were sticking out so much that it hit the inside of my wheels. If I try to cut the slack the other way...it get's really close to my axles. Soooooo I just zip tied it down for now so it's out of the way of everything.