RSutton's 2011 SSM WRX Hatch Progress

damn... i thought you were pretty happy with your bilsteins haha nice stuff man.

 

I was and I still love that suspension. I just needed something a little bit more adjustable. It was really an "I want" as the Bilstein/RCE combo was fantastic.

 

Went to AllPro this morning for the alignment and to double check the ride height. Final numbers on the alignment ended up being -2.1 front, -2.4 rear (couldn't get anything other than that which is weird. I wanted -1.4), 0 toe and 7 degrees of caster.

 

I have been getting some questions on how the car is sitting on the new suspension...so here are some quick pictures. Location sucks and lighting isn't that great...but it shows how the car sits.





And a Instagramesk picture...because everyone seems to love those...

 

pshh... like you really need more upgrade in your suspension :rofl:

 

Rob the stance looks absolutely sexy

 

maybe its just me, or the angle of the picture, but am i the only one who thinks the left side is totally higher than the right?

 

one eye is higher, his brain doesn't compensate

 

i dk, haha. maybe im crazy. could be the hydrocodon

 

It's how the car is sitting. That parking lot is insanely lumpy because they didn't pour it correctly. It's not level.

It was also all even at the time of the alignment...but springs settle. So I am going double check and adjust at the end of the week after it has some driving on it. That should be the final time it needs to be done.

 

I have been running Hawk HP+'s for awhile. I absolutely love how they bite and they have had zero issues on the track or mountain runs. However, they dust like a damn blizzard and are squeaky as hell. The running joke was I had was that I after I washed my car...just pulling out of the driveway would get my wheels dirty. To make matters worse, the dust is brown so it even really showed up on my flat black wheels.

After dealing with this for awhile, I finally decided to run a DD set of pads and a track/mountain run set of pads. Since it basically takes 20 minutes or less to swap pads on Brembo's including jacking the car up, this really isn't that big of a deal.

I searched around the internet to find a set of pads that were half way decent that didn't dust all over the wheels. After seeing some reviews on TireRack.com and IWSTI, I landed on the Posi Quiets.



As the name implies, they are QUIET! They also do not get the wheels dirty...and they are pretty cheap. They aren't Autozone brand cheap but a lot cheaper than the track pads. The braking bite is not as good as the HP+'s but I was expecting that. They are find for daily driving use and that is all that really matters for their purpose.

We'll see how they do over time, but so far I am liking the different pads for different purposes setup.

 

You should herrafrush it, its so much fun

 

:slap: :slap: :slap:

No it's retarded.

 

Who needs the logos on the sidewall of their tires anyway right? :rofl:

 

Lol... make sure you get a matching cart

 

So we went to work on some more of the interior last night. We are going to do more of a proper photoshoot of everything later, but I thought I would go ahead and get some pictures up of the progress today.

Last night we...

Wrapped and installed the new GTSpec D Shaped wheel covered by JPM to match the interior.

• Black leather sides
• Black Alcantara top and bottom
• Red Alcantara stripe at 12 o'clock
• Red stitching

JPM wrapped the new 3 way A-Pillars in black Alcantara with black double stitching. Hertz 165XL tweeters (matched with the 6.5" woofers in sealed doors) and Tang Band W3-1364SA 3" Bamboo Cone Driver mid-range.



Finished the dash treatment by extending the black Alcantara to the tops of the doors.



Pictures really do not do the interior justice. Alex and Joe at JPM Coachworks have done a fantastic job. It completely changes the entire feel of the car when you sit in it. I could not be any happier at this point.

Now we just have to get the second Sparco seat in and I need to pick up another 4 way amp and JBL MS-8 processor. We have something special in mind for that processor as well...

 

Oh man that looks insane! And that shot of the entire front makes the speakers look much better than that one I saw last night! Props man....I love it! Everything simply flows.

 

drrooooooolllllll

 

Looks very cool. I might have JPM do some work for the Legacy pretty soon.

 

very nice robb

 

So previously, I was running a 2 way passive front stage with custom a pillars that housed a single tweeter. As you can see by the new interior upgrade, it is now a 3 way system that is going to be setup active.

To setup a 3 way active front stage, you have to get an external processing unit and delete the passive crossovers. I decided to use the new JBL MS-8 as it has an onboard amp that can power the tweeters and mid range on the pillar while I can power the mid basses in the doors and the sub off my existing amp. The plan is to get another 4x100 full range class D (probably another Hertz HDP 4) to power the pillars, but this will work in the meantime to get everything running.



The JBL MS-8 is a pretty impressive piece of equipment. It came down the Audison Bit One and this unit, but the ease of setup really sold me on the MS-8 along with some reviews from some fellow audio geeks. The unit comes with a LCD control display and you actually wear a set of headphones with mics on each side to setup the listening positions in the car.

Everything is hooked up and sounds great so far. I still have a lot of tuning to do before it will be where I want it. But it fits under the seat and gets the job done. Here is a teaser of some of the fab work I am in process of completing for the LCD display. It is going to sit flush mounted to the center console where the S drive would usually be.

 

I now have a new switchblade key!

This was actually a function deal for me rather than a cool looking key. I only carry my car key around because I do not like things in my pockets. This consolidates that down considerably while also getting rid of the dangling keyless entry that hits my knees on mountain runs and track days. Now when I put the key in...nothing is swaying back and forth.

 

Is this one of the ones integroid used to sell? If not, where did u get it. I like!

 

This is how I did it.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2352408

 

Thanks to Joe at JPM...my control unit for the JBL MS-8 is mounted for good. It looks great and fits perfectly.

 

Is the control unit touchscreen or what?

 

Controlled by remote. It completely handles the seating position, EQ, timing, crossovers, etc.

 

AllPro's favorite pain in the ass customer showed up today...me...with a box of yellow parts ready for install. I needed to get the Whiteline camber adjustment bushings for the rear to bring the camber back some...so I figured that it would be a great time to install some other bushings that have been sitting in my garage for forever.

Whiteline Rear Subframe Bushings
Whiteline Rear Trailing Arm Bushings
Whiteline Rear Control arm - Upper Inner Bushing (camber correction)

Even just driving away, the entire rear end of the car felt a lot more solid. Not annoying bouncing around the road solid...but unified. They also increased steering feel on turn in and predictability in the turns. I can't wait to really push the setup to see how it feels against the stock setup. As we all know, the stock bushings in our cars are terrible in comparison.

Thanks to Brandon and Wes for putting up with me this afternoon.

 

More reasons to love your car Rob!!!! Keep it up man

 

bushings are one of the best bang for the buck mods on a subaru. can't recommend them enough. for people with a hard time saving money these are great to buy a different set each paycheck or something along those lines...

 

Your car is a beast. I would love to see this MF in person


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I have look through this thread, not every page but most of them, this has got to be one of the best builds on a WRX in the South East maybe even the entire East cost. From top to bottom inside and out everything is well thought out, nothing is overdone, this car is nearly perfect. Wow what a build. Nice job and keep up the good work.

 

It's time...at least she is in great company...

 

Motor. Cylinder 2 let go.

 

Sorry to hear that! Did you try to warranty? Whats the plan moving forward?

 

Honestly...I was waiting on it. I didn't try for warranty or even ask about it because I don't want it. I knew the risk going to this power level and a warranty replacement would open me up to the same vulnerabilities that I already had. A built motor will make the car very reliable at this power level which is what I ultimately want. It was actually amazing that it lasted as long as it did.

Originally, I was planning on a crazy build with cams, head work and some other items...but now I really just want a SS1 from TopSpeed to make it reliable at this level. Could I make more power and make it more responsive with the additional work? Yes...but I am actually really happy with the car as it performs already so I really just want to make sure it is reliable at that level.

It is time to save that extra coin to move forward with saving a down payment on the next project.

 

Luckily I am out of town next week and we had already planned on this to begin with...so 2 weeks is the estimate right now until the car is drivable on the break in tune which is really reasonable.

 

Honestly...if it takes a little bit longer...I am ok with that. Just allows me to play with shop cars for photography sessions a little bit more. TSM has been a great client/friend that takes care of my car like their own. We are seriously spoiled between them and AllPro in the southeast.


Morning Cruise by rsutton198 | oneninty8.com, on Flickr

 

Which GTR is the loaner car?

 

Hopefully...some day soon...I'm not talking about a GT-R as a loaner...

 

Hell Yeah!!! Great guys at both shops!

 

sounds like my favorite rationalization: engine reached the end of its functional life so the appropriate maintenance upgrades are in order to meet the foreseeable needs...

 

It's an extension of my favorite: Over mod the stock block so you explain to the wife that you have to build an upgraded engine. Don't you want the car that carries our son to be reliable?

 

does not compute .. system failure